Before the Chase: A Cyberchase Prequel
by singertobe
Summary: Where did Motherboard, Dr. Marbles, & Lady Lovelace come from? How did Dr. Marbles meet Lady Lovelace? Who do we not know about? And who was the bad guy before Hacker? Learn the untold story. Learn how everything came together. What was their life like... before the chase? (Rated T for fight scenes) Plz R&R, fav, follow. All that good stuff :) same author, new username for privacy
1. Chapter 1

**~Chapter One~**

Melissa Benson sat at the window seat in her bedroom reading a book on the history of the cybersite Solaria. It was 10:00 P.M in Pompadoria (one of cyberspace's most elegant cybersites), far too late for an eight-year-old cyborg to still be up. But little Melissa was so wrapped up in her book; she simply could NOT pry her sapphire eyes from the pages. That was, until, she heard the piercing cries of a little boy.

"_Marbles!"_ she thought in a panic as she leapt from her window seat and rushed to her brother's bedroom. When Melissa saw that he was merely having a nightmare, she breathed a sigh of relief. "_He's safe," _she thought, "_For now…"_

Though their parents tried to hide it from the children, eight-year-old Melissa could tell something was very wrong in cyberspace. Their father, Clyde had worked as a spy for cyber-ruler Sir Dalhart since before she was born. However, in the past two years, Melissa had observed him become more engaged in his duties. She would walk by his study room and glimpse a look of fear in his eyes as he read through his cyber mail. Late in the evenings phone calls could be heard between him & other government members. Melissa would catch bits and pieces of her father's conversation, such as:

"The rebellion is growing stronger everyday sir", "His men will stop at NOTHING to defeat you", "I've discovered more disturbing schemes of theirs", "I worry what this means for the future of cyberspace", and - in a more recent call- "Sir Dalhart, I received blackmail from Abaddon. His men have tracked down our location and he has promised revenge on Eileen and I."

Melissa had overheard that last conversation just a week ago. When she thought about it, it sent chills through her circuitry. Whoever this Abaddon man was, he was clearly a threat to many. Melissa worried every day that she and her family would be destroyed. She worried especially for her little brother. He had been the light of her life since the day he was born and the idea of anyone harming him made her feel sick. "I MUST protect him!" she would tell herself. "I must be there for him."

Melissa snapped out of her thoughts and quickly walked over to Marbles' bedside.

"Marbles! Marbles! Wake up!" she said lightly shaking him. The six-year-old cyborg opened his golden-brown eyes, relieved to see his older sister's face, rather than the face of the green monster from his nightmare.

"Melissa!" Marbles cried, his face soaked with tears.

"Ssh… It's alright," she said as she hugged him tightly and stroked the back of his head consolingly, "It was all a dream."

"It felt so real though Melissa. The monster was so big and he kept chasing me in his ship. He said he was gonna hurt you and that I'd never see you again."

Melissa held her brother closer as his tears soaked her pink nightgown. "Nobody will ever hurt me or you, I promise. I'll always be here for you little brother. Nobody can take me away from you." She continued to embrace him, remaining silent, allowing him time to calm himself.

"When will Mommy be back from Control Central?" he whispered into her ear.

Melissa was just about to speak when they heard a familiar voice say, "I'm already back."

Melissa and Marbles turned around to see a tall woman with long nut-brown hair, light blue skin, and blue eyes just like Melissa's.

"Mommy!" they both squealed as they rushed towards their mother, practically knocking her to the ground with hugs and kisses.

"Yes, Yes. I missed you too!" the blessed mother of two exclaimed, hugging her children back, "Now back to bed you two. Your father and I have a big day planned for the four of us tomorrow."

She tucked Marbles into bed and kissed him goodnight before stopping her eldest child as she entered her bedroom.

"Melissa," she said as the sweet child turned to face her, "I heard you in there. Thank you for taking care of Marbles while I'm on my business trips. He really does look to you as both a sister and a second mother."

"You're welcome Mom," Melissa replied blushing. Eileen followed her daughter to her bed and tucked her in.

She then noticed the abandoned history book on the window seat. "I see my little genius has been up past her bedtime," she said tickling Melissa.

"I can't help myself," Melissa laughed, "There's so much I wanna learn! I wanna be just like you and Dad when I grow up!"

"And you've plenty of time to prepare yourself my dear," Eileen said as she kissed her daughter's forehead. "If you try to cram it all in at once you'll never remember it all."

Melissa sighed. "If only I were a computer program, like Pompadoria's twentieth king. I'd have a big enough memory card to store everything!"

"No, No child! The king only did so because he'd have died of illness otherwise. His son was still too young to inherit the throne. Programming someone's spirit and memory into a computer is only done in dire situations like that one."

"But Mommy..."

"No buts!" she interrupted. Her tone of voice then softened. "Besides, if you were a computer program, how'd you go on those little 'adventures' of yours?"

Melissa thought this over for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right, Eileen answered, "Now good night." She gave her daughter another kiss and then went downstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**~Chapter Two~**

Eileen knocked on the door of Clyde's study room. She knew her husband stayed up late tracking the enemy's progress and/or working on either his computer system or finding solutions to any problems with other spies' computer systems. All in all, he was a very busy cyborg. A bit too busy though. His career had now become so consuming that he was left with little to no time with his family.

_"Then again,"_ Eileen thought, _"I'm at least TWICE as guilty."_

As one of the head assistants to Sir Dalhart, she was almost always away at Control Central. Her visits could last anywhere from a couple hours to a couple months. Though Sir Dalhart, being the kind ruler that he was, tried to make the need of her assistance as short as possible. Coming from a family of seven, he knew all too well how important it was that she be with her spouse & children. Still with the increasing threats to overthrow their ruler -along with the government- every governor, every spy, every politician, & anyone else associated with the cyber ruler was needed now more than ever. But the worst part was this: Because Clyde knew the most about Abaddon & his plans & because Clyde was the most intelligent of all Cyberspace's spies, Abaddon had specific plans to eliminate him from the picture. (As well as anybody associated with him.)

"Once you and your precious husband are gone," his men had written to her in a blackmail, "Nothing will stop Abaddon from getting rid of that idiotic Dalhart! We WILL hunt you down Benson! You and your entire family will perish miserably!"

Eileen acted as though she weren't intimidated at all by the blackmailing. Yet underneath that brave exterior was a petrified woman who worried more about the lives of her husband and children than of her own fate.

She opened the door and, as she suspected, there was her darling Clyde pouring over his recent findings. He had dark circles around his golden-brown eyes and his normally dark blue skin was paler than usual. Clearly he had not been sleeping much since she was gone.

"Clyde dear!" she whispered lovingly.

Clyde looked up to see his lovely wife smiling at him. He rushed over to Eileen and kissed her soft, pink lips. "Oh darling I've missed you so much!" He said softly.

"And I you my dear!"

"How are things going over at Control Central?" Clyde asked, his arms wrapped around her neck.

"Oh Clyde," Eileen sighed, "Sir Dalhart is worried sick about the future of Cyberspace. According to him, we're in the darkest times since the Great Cyber War."

"I have to agree with him darling," the blue-haired cyborg replied hopelessly, "We are in a very serious situation. He paused a moment, then said, "I assume Sir Dalhart has informed you of the recent blackmail I received."

"Yes Clyde," Eileen answered as her blue eyes filled with tears, "Oh what are we going to do?! Just what will become of the children?"

"We mustn't let them know." Clyde sighed and said to her, "I can tell Melissa is already suspicious of there being some sort of dilemma… I requested that Sir Dalhart send you back with two Skwak Pads for her and Marbles, in case the unthinkable happens."

"Yes. They are in my purse. We'll give them to the children tomorrow morning."

Clyde nodded and went back to his computer.

"Eileen?"

"Yes Clyde?"

"Know that whatever happens to me," Clyde said, his golden-brown eyes now watering, "Know that I love you. I've loved you since the day we met at the Cybrary and I'll love you until the day I die. And there's not a thing in Cyberspace that can change that!"

Eileen smiled at her handsome spouse. "I love you too Clyde," she said as she knelt beside him and rested her head on his lap. "More than you'll ever know…"


	3. Chapter 3

**~Chapter Three~**

It had been a week since Eileen had returned from Control Central and two weeks total since Clyde had received the disturbing cyber-mail from Abaddon. Things seemed to be going well and the children had quickly learned all the uses of their Skwak Pads. It had become Marbles' new favorite toy in fact. With no suspicious actions from the enemy to be found, Clyde was able to focus more on his work as a computer technician.

_"Perhaps Abaddon was bluffing after all,"_ Clyde thought to himself as he handed his son a floppy disc.

It was a warm summer afternoon, one which the thirty-two-year-old cyborg had chosen to spend with his son. He was teaching Marbles the very basics of computer technology, knowing the young cyborg had every intention of being a computer technician himself someday.

"You see son," Clyde explained, "Even the best technicians in the world cannot stop a computer virus if it's severe enough. In that case, the owner would have to purchase a new one. With floppy discs like this one, the person can save important files from the infected computer & transfer it to the new one."

"Daddy?" Marbles asked, looking up at his father.

"Yes Marbles?" Clyde replied.

"What would've happened if the Grand Posha had gotten a virus like that?"

"You mean the one that had his spirit transferred into a computer program?"

His son nodded.

"Well," Clyde began, "Those are different types of computers altogether. In most cases, an Encryptor Chip1 would be installed. But that's yet another reason why transferring someone's spirit and memory to a computer is such a rare thing. Supposedly, death from a computer virus is more painful than any illness a cyborg can get. But, you'll learn more about that when you go to college."

Marbles smiled at the thought of studying nothing but computers. However, his father still worried, in the back of his mind, if Marbles would even see his seventh birthday.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile, Eileen and Melissa were having a picnic in the woods, spending some much needed mother-daughter time.

"I always miss you so much when you're at Control Central," Melissa said as she sipped her water.

"Same here Melissa. I wish I could bring you & your brother with me sometimes."

"Why don't you?" Melissa asked, "We both would love to meet the cyber-ruler in person."

"When you're older dear," Eileen replied, tousling her daughter's sky-blue hair. _"My_ _little girl truly is beautiful," _she thought to herself.

Eileen was right. Melissa was an extremely attractive child, having inherited only the very best features of her relatives. From her mother, she had inherited soft pink lips & eyes as blue as sapphire. Melissa's late aunt had given her that sky blue hair which fell in soft curls just past her shoulders. But, probably the most unique thing about Melissa was her skin. She inherited both of her parents' blue skin, a color rarely seen on the faces of cyborgs anymore. Add a petite frame and a height a few inches taller than most children her age, and the end result was a cyborg with all the beauty & radiance of a queen.

"What?" Melissa said after a couple seconds of her mother just staring at her dumbfounded.

"I was just thinking," Eileen said still playing with a strand of her daughter's hair that'd fallen loose from her pigtails, "How I am so lucky to have you as a daughter!"

Melissa smiled innocently. "Thanks!"

Eileen looked at her watch. "We'd better get back now," she said, "You know the boys can't be left alone too long!"

The two laughed as they got their things together and went back home.

By 8:00 P.M that night, the entire family was exhausted and ready for bed. It had been a long and enjoyable day for everyone. Eileen and Clyde tucked their children into bed and went to their own room.

"Marbles is certainly learning quickly for his age," Clyde said as he brushed his teeth in the adjoining bathroom, "Just six years old, and my boy can already install a Firewall."

"We certainly do have a pair of cyber-prodigies in the family," his wife replied as she climbed into bed.

Clyde spat into the sink and was about to join his wife when he remembered something. "Eileen," he said, "I have to quickly check my cyber-mail to see if Larry has replied back yet. It shouldn't take long. You just go to sleep, ok?"

"Alright dear," Eileen said yawning, "Good night."

Clyde looked through his inbox. Larry still had not responded. Clyde figured the cyborg had forgotten his login information again.

"But what's this?" Clyde said to himself when he saw a cyber-mail addressed from Sir Dalhart.

_"Urgent! Please Reply ASAP!" _the title read.

Clyde quickly opened the message, wondering what could possibly be happening over at Control Central. His golden-brown eyes widened in shock and fear when he realized the message was not from Sir Dalhart. In fact, it wasn't even a 'message.'

_"It can't be!" _Clyde thought.

But it was...

Abaddon really HAD traced the Bensons' whereabouts. And he had sent Clyde a Logic Buster…2

* * *

Author's Note: 1- Do I even have to say? The chip that everyone is after the 1st 3 seasons of Cyberchase.

2- Episode 124 "Size Me Up"


	4. Chapter 4

**~Chapter Four~**

Clyde looked like a cyber-deer in headlights as he watched his computer screen fill with zeroes and ones. Then in huge red letters: "SYSTEM WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN 1 MINUTE." It proved to be enough time to find his Skwak Pad amongst a pile of papers, contact Eileen on her Skwak Pad upstairs, and have her get the children out. However, it wasn't enough time for Clyde to save himself. Just as he got off the line with his wife, his computer exploded into a mass of flames, blocking the door to his study. Knowing there was no hope of escape now; Clyde backed into a corner & said a prayer.

_"Dear heavenly Father. Forgive me of all sins I've committed in my life. Let me enter Thy divine kingdom. But more importantly, I pray for my family. Please watch over and guard my precious children. I pray also that you will be with our ruler Sir Dalhart in this time of great peril. Please protect Cyberspace. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen…"_

Just as Clyde finished the last sentence of his prayer, the flames engulfed his body. He was dead…

Eileen heard the explosion and knew instantly what had happened. Unfortunately, she had no time to mourn the loss of her husband. The children however had also heard and could smell the smoke from their rooms.

Melissa awoke immediately and ran for the door, but hesitated upon smelling the fumes coming from down the hallway. Eileen then opened the door, a petrified Marbles standing beside her with his Skwak.

"Melissa!" her mother said with fear trembling in her voice, "Grab your Skwak Pad and come with me. Hurry! The house is on fire!"

Melissa obeyed her mother.

"But what's going on?" Melissa asked as they hurried downstairs, "Where's Dad?"

"There's no time to explain right now darling," Eileen answered, "Right now we need to get out of here before the fire spreads."

The three rushed down the stairs and made it out the front door in time to escape the fire, but were met by another threat. Waiting for them were seven cyborgs, dressed head to toe in black uniforms. Eileen knew instantly who they were. They were a small part of the enemy's army.

"Eileen Benson," replied one cyborg as he removed his mask, "So you and your husband have been found at last!"

"Biff!" Eileen hissed, recognizing the General of Abaddon's army.

"Make that General Biff little lady!" his tone softened into sarcasm, "It's been a long time old friend. I've missed you."

"Old friend!" Eileen laughed just as sarcastically, "YOU ARE A TRAITOR!"

"And it's the best move I've ever made in my life!" the cyborg shouted.

"Mom what's going on?!" Melissa asked, both confused and terrified.

The General laughed. "I see! So you haven't warned the little ones about our plans!"

General Biff turned his gaze to the two trembling children.

"Well I may as well fill you in," the cyborg said, a wicked smile spreading across his face. "These cyborgs and I work for a powerful cyborg by the name of Abaddon. He has been trying to overthrow the current idiot of a leader and declare himself the new ruler of Cyberspace. With him in charge, the whole government will change. But Sir Dummy's assistants and spies have been constantly getting in our way of new cyber-world order, especially your beloved parents."

_"So that's what it's been all this time!" _Melissa thought to herself as she clang to her mother for protection.

General Biff continued, "So before we can go any further with our plans for cyber-domination, we must eliminate our main problem… And leave no witnesses behind either!"

"Meaning you children are about to die with your parents!" shouted another cyborg.

The General nodded his head and all seven cyborgs took out a large weapon. Melissa & Marbles, being the avid readers they were, knew just as well as Eileen what kind of weapons they were.

"MAGNETITE GUNS!" the six-year old cyborg screamed in terror.

Eileen scooped Marbles up into her arms.

"Come with me Melissa!" she said to her daughter as they attempted to escape into the depths of the Forever Forest. (This whole time, Eileen and Clyde were certain that living in the middle of such a large forest would keep all four of them safe, but they were wrong.)

Before they could get anywhere, the cyborgs had surrounded the mother and her children. Eileen knew now that there was only one way she could save her children. As the first cyborg opened fire on the family, she quickly pushed Melissa and Marbles onto the ground and hovered over them, using her body as a shield.

All cyborgs react negatively to magnetite. Some will only feel a little sick for a while; others will die on the spot. Eileen was one of those cyborgs that didn't react greatly to it. But any cyborg that is taking several shots from all surrounding directions is going to have fatal results.

Melissa and Marbles watched in horror as their mother took one blow after another. Each hit Eileen received was more painful than the last. The wires of her inner circuitry were beginning to spark. She knew she was dying and with Clyde also gone her children would be left defenseless against the army. The eldest child tried to hold back her tears, but they fell regardless. Eileen looked at her two weeping children, then down at her arms and saw that her body was slowly dematerializing.

"Melissa, Marbles," she whispered with the last of her strength, "You must find some way to leave this place once I'm gone." Marbles was about to say something, but then realized what was happening before his young eyes. "Do whatever you must. Just... get away from them," Eileen continued as a single tear ran down her almost transparent cheek.

Another shot of magnetite hit her in the side. With that, Eileen's body vanished and her soul went to join that of her husband's…


	5. Chapter 5

**~Chapter Five~**

Location: Control Central:

Sir Dalhart stood alone on the balcony of Control Central. It was a beautiful night and there had been little to no known activity from the enemy for the past two weeks. Sir Dalhart had been concerned for the Benson family when Clyde called him about the blackmail, but when he spoke with the family again yesterday, all his fears for them were gone.

_"Now I can finally relax,"_ the 50-year-old cyborg thought to himself as he gazed up at the stars.

Then...

"Sir Dalhart! SIR DALHART!" shouted the panic-stricken voice of one of the cyber ruler's assistants.

Sir Dalhart turned around to see his assistant Frank holding a piece of paper and having a look of shock in his violet eyes.

"Frank, what's going on? You look like you've seen Ivanka's ghost!"

"If it were only that Sir. Look," the cyborg exclaimed holding up the papers, "This just came from Abaddon. It says that he has sent his men out to the Forever Forest in Pompadoria to finish off the Bensons. I've been trying to contact Clyde and Eileen, but neither one is responding. I've come to the conclusion that the entire family has perished, just as the enemy had threatened."

The color immediately drained out of Sir Dalhart's face upon hearing those words. His best spy Clyde, his only female assistant Eileen, and their innocent children. DEAD. It just didn't seem possible. Everyone in the cyber-government knew these cyber-rebels were restless. But no one ever dreamed that they'd go as far as killing cyborgs this young.

"I see," Sir Dalhart said monotonously, "Then there's only one solution left. There's only one way we can prevent anymore lives from being lost."

With that, Sir Dalhart walked back into Control Central looking lost in another world, leaving Frank to wonder what he could be thinking of doing.

Location Forever Forest, Pompadoria:

Melissa and Marbles lay on the ground in shock, staring where moments ago their mother, Eileen, had been guarding them from shots of magnetite, at the cost of her own life.

Everyone was silent, even the seven cyborgs responsible for the incident. During the past two years of cyber-rebellion they had killed many cyborgs in battle, but this was a different story. They had just brutally murdered a defenseless mother of two. They saw her complete selflessness in laying down her life for the safety of her children. And above all, the seven masked cyborgs were now about to shoot down two young cyborgs who had never done anything to harm them. Even General Biff, in all his heartlessness, was somewhat ashamed of himself. However he was NOT going to give into his conscience. The general glanced over at the Benson house, still in flames from the explosion.

"You four, go take care of that fire! We need to get rid of any evidence that we were here!" he said to four cyborgs to the left of him.

"But sir! Abaddon already..." began one of the soldiers.

"I don't care! MOVE!"

With that the four masked cyborgs took hoses from the bags they were carrying and went to put the fire out.

Noticing the gap made when the cyborgs left the circle, Melissa and Marbles tried to get up and run away before the General ordered the remaining two cyborgs to pin them down.

"You little ones aren't going anywhere!" General Biff said taking the magnetite gun, "Now who shall I take out first?"

But before he could make the decision, Marbles was suddenly released from one of the cyborgs' grip.

"What in tarnation do you think you're doing Kevin?!" General Biff demanded, turning his gaze to the cyborg.

Kevin did not answer though; only giving his commander hateful stare. Then...

**BANG!**

Kevin shot the General in his shoulder, knocking him out cold. Kevin's conscience had gotten the better of him.

The cyborg that had been holding Melissa down let go and ran to the unconscious General, as did the cyborgs that had been putting out the fire.

"RUN!" Kevin shouted to the children as one of the cyborgs threw a slew of nasty insults to him for going against their General.

And before any of the others could react to what Kevin had just done, Melissa and Marbles vanished into the night. (Needless to say, Abaddon was not pleased with Kevin when he found out)


	6. Chapter 6

NOTE: I did not name Melissa after the "Melissa Virus" that came out in 2004 or something like that. I was not aware of this virus until long after I started writing this. Her name in this story is not meant to symbolize anything or foreshadow the events that take place in the Cyberchase television series.

Also, I do not own Cyberchase. (obviously)

* * *

**~Chapter Six~**

After what felt like many hours of running for dear life, the two children fell to the ground exhausted.

"Are we safe now Melissa?" Marbles asked his older sister while catching his breath, coming to a seated position.

"I think so," she panted, "We can rest for now, I guess. But, we will have to keep going at some point."

"Is that cyborg dead?"

"I don't know Marbles. All I know is that we were extremely lucky that Kevin spared us."

"But we're all alone now aren't we?" Marbles asked with tears in his golden-brown eyes.

Melissa only then seemed to realize the cold hard truth herself. The fire, the words the General had said, and the fact that their mother was dead. At some point tonight, their father had obviously been killed as well. Both of their parents. GONE.

Melissa held back the tears that were forming in her young blue eyes and sat in an upright position.

"No we're not Marbles," Melissa said softly, nurturing. "We have each other. We always will."

"I'm scared Melissa!" Marbles sobbed as he hugged her tightly.

"Sshhh..."

Melissa was afraid too, to say the very least. _"What will I do if Abaddon's men find us?"_ the girl thought, "_I am only eight years old after all! I can't fight them off by myself! And even if the army never finds us, we certainly CANNOT stay here! We'll eventually either be attacked by wildebeests or starve to death. There has to be something I can do, but what?"_

Poor Melissa was so scared that her hands started to shake as she stroked her brother's hair.

"Just rest now," she said to him as she pulled away from his embrace, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"I'll try," the boy said as he lied back on his side onto the grass.

Melissa lied down next to him and propped herself onto her forearm. She stroked his arm and sang a lullaby that their mother Eileen used to sing to them at night:

_"Don't cry my darling. My darling, hush._

_There are angels watching over us._

_When all seems lost, when times are rough_

_Just give God your faith and trust_

_You will never be alone_

_You are never far from home_

_Everything will be alright _

_So sleep and dream sweet dreams tonight_"

Melissa sang the lines over and over until her angelic voice soothed Marbles to sleep. She kissed her brother on the cheek and gazed up at the stars. Still hot and sweating from running, she tore a piece of fabric off of her white nightgown and used it to tie her long blue hair into a loose ponytail. She then lay down on her back, hands behind her head and stretched her legs out.

_"He looks so peaceful,"_ Melissa thought as she glanced over at her sleeping brother, _"I am so sorry this had to happen to you Marbles. But I swear, somehow, I'll protect you from any further harm. I'll be your mother now."_

With that, the little cyborg allowed a single tear to fall from her eye and she fell asleep. Except her dreams were not that pleasant tonight.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Melissa felt as if she were floating. She was in some large, hi-tech room looking downwards to see her brother with a worried look on his face. She knew not why, but she felt a strong presence of some sort of evil. Then HE walked in._

_Some green cyborg that looked almost like a monster. He had a large build and a satanic grin on his face. The cyborg stared at Marbles with eyes full of hate._

_"What do you want?" Marbles demanded._

_"You know exactly what I want Marbles!" the green cyborg said as he stormed over to Marbles and grabbed him by the arm. _

_"LET HIM GO!" Melissa shouted as the __thing__ dragged Marbles out of the room. She tried to go after him, but was being held back by some invisible force. _

_"There's nothing you can do now!" the cyborg yelled back as he left the room, dragging Marbles along with him. _

_After they were gone, Melissa still felt the being's evil presence. Then..._

**_BOOM!_**

_The whole room began to shake. Melissa sensed that something was approaching her. And before she could figure out what was going on, she felt a sudden sharp pain. The pain spread throughout her and intensified until it felt as if her inner circuitry was exploding into sparks inside of her. Just as Melissa was about to scream in agony, she suddenly felt an overwhelming weakness. Her vision blurred._

_"What's happening to me?" Melissa thought as she grew weaker and dizzier, "Am I dying? What's going on?... Marbles? Marbles where are you?" _

_The pain and overwhelming weakness continued to intensify until it was unbearable and she fainted._

xxxxxxxxxx

Melissa jolted awake at dawn a few hours later, the nightmare having terrified her. She looked around nervously whilst kicking her legs up and down. Marbles was still there. Her limbs were working perfectly. She felt no pain nor dizziness and, other than being a bit tired from just waking up, her energy levels were the same as always.

"Phew! It was just a dream!" she said aloud, causing her brother to stir.

"What was just a dream?" Marbles asked groggily.

"Nothing you need to worry about Marbles. Sorry for waking you."

Marbles sat up and looked around. He could just barely see the sun rising in the East, making the clouds a beautiful shade of pink. The birds were starting to chirp, the ones that couldn't talk that is, and a cool wind was blowing. Both children wanted nothing more than to sit there and simply enjoy their surroundings. But they knew they had to move out, find somewhere to hide...

...Or better yet, find a way out...


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Cyberchase.

* * *

**~Chapter Seven~**

Melissa and Marbles sat silently on the grass, each thinking of some way to leave the Forever Forest and find safety elsewhere.

"Melissa?" Marbles asked after a while.

"Yes Marbles?" Melissa answered.

"Do you still have your Skwak Pad? I dropped mine somewhere while we were running away."

_"The Skwak Pad! Of course!" _Melissa thought to herself.

Suddenly it was clear why their parents had given them Skwak Pads, as well as why the number for Control Central was saved in it. Their father knew that this day would come and that the children would NEED Sir Dalhart to send a rescue party out for them.

Melissa reached into her nightgown pocket. It was still there.

"Melissa Benson to Control Central," she said into the Skwak Pad after typing a few buttons, "Is anybody there?"

But only static answered. There was no signal where they were.

"Nothing!" Melissa complained and tossed the device to the ground, "Should've known!"

"Wait a minute Melissa!" Marbles said as her remembered something, "We can use it to scan a map of the forest."

The boy grabbed the Skwak Pad and scrolled to the mapping feature. The screen then displayed a full map of the Forever Forest, with landmarks and an X to show where the children were.

"Look Melissa!" Marbles said pointing at a landmark and scrolling to enlarge the image, "There's a cave not far from where we are!"

"I see," Melissa answered looking over her brothers shoulder, "But we don't know what's in that cave. It's not safe."

"At least we'll have somewhere to hide from them," Marbles pointed out.

Melissa contemplated this for a moment. Yes, surely the soldiers wouldn't think of looking in a cave for them. But at the same time, should they risk getting attacked by a bear, or anything else that could be living within it? Then again, the Skwak _does_ have a laser pointer feature that would be able to emit a light and allow them to see if any creatures lived there. It was a risk, but it was a risk worth taking.

"You're right," Melissa decided as she got up to stand, "Let's look for this cave."

The two siblings walked in the direction of the cave, their Skwak indicating how much closer they were getting. By the time the sun was fully in the sky, they could see the cave just ahead of them.

"Look!" Marbles shouted whilst pointing to the cave.

"Sshhh..." Melissa shushed him for fear of the cyborgs being nearby, "I see it. Let's go!"

They ran up the small hill to where the cave stood, tiptoeing to avoid waking any animal that may live inside it. Once Melissa and Marbles reached the entrance, Melissa realized they weren't going to need the laser pointer after all. The cave was already emitting a pink glow from within, piles upon piles of some sort of glittering pink dust being responsible for it.

"Oh my word!" Melissa said as she slowly walked into the cave.

"What is it?" Marbles asked following her.

"I have no idea," his sister answered as she ran her fingers through a pile half her height, "It looks almost like fairy dust."

"Maybe fairies live here?" Marbles suggested, also running his fingers through the dust.

"Maybe," the little girl said, her innocent blue eyes filling with hope.

"Well if there is, don't expect them to find you here when they come back!" said a voice from behind them.

The children turned around and gasped. It was General Biff with his arm in a sling and all his men, minus Kevin, behind him. Their masks had been removed. There was no point in having them on in broad daylight.

"Did you two really think you could escape us?!" said one cyborg mockingly.

"I will do the talking thank you very much!" the General said harshly, causing the cyborg to cower in fear.

General Biff then turned his gaze back to the children.

"I must congratulate you two for having tried this hard to escape fate. However, now its truly the end for both of you! Both your parents are dead and cannot protect you anymore and, in case you haven't noticed, there's nowhere to run this time."

In a state of panic, Melissa took the Skwak Pad from Marbles hands and desperately started typing the number for Control Central.

"Don't bother!" General Biff shouted as he took out his magnetite gun, "Even if you get a signal on the piece of junk they can't get to you in time!"

With that he opened fire in Melissa's and Marbles' direction. Melissa pushed her brother to the side as the magnetite hit her shoulder. Screaming in agonizing pain Melissa dropped her Skwak Pad and it fell into a pile of the sparkling dust. As it fell, the button to activate the laser pointer was pressed against by a rock.

"Melissa! Are you alright?!" Marbles asked, not noticing the fact that the pile of pink dust was glowing more and forming a swirling circle.

But Abaddon's men certainly noticed it.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed one of them.

"Its a portal!" shouted another.

"Maybe they were right about there being fairies here," said a third.

"Well if so they sure aren't happy with us," shouted their General, "MOVE OUT!"

The group of cyborgs ran off, leaving Melissa and Marbles staring in awe at the portal. Melissa got up slowly, clutching her injured shoulder.

"Marbles," she said trying to ignore the pain, "We've found our way out of here."

"You mean?..."

"Yes Marbles. We use the portal."

"But..."

"There's no time to hesitate," Melissa interrupted, "They could be back any moment!"

With that Melissa used her good arm and grabbed Marbles by the hand and they both jumped in just as the portal was about to close. The children vanished from sight along with the portal and the dust from which it came.

All that was left was one Skwak Pad, still in laser mode, with the last call history being Control Central...


	8. Chapter 8

**~Chapter Eight~**

Location: Control Central:

Control Central's chief technician, Richard Stanley, looked up at the monitor of the supercomputer in the main control room. It displayed the former location of the Benson household. But where the house once stood, there was now nothing more than burnt ashes. Two men stood with him: Cyber-ruler Sir Dalhart and one of his workers, Frank.

"I was right," Frank sighed, "They're dead!"

"There's nothing you could've done Frank," Sir Dalhart said reassuringly.

"I still can't believe they went after two INNOCENT children," Richard shouted pounding his fist against the panel, "Those monsters!"

As Sir Dalhart patted Richard on the back consolingly, a pink light caught their eye. Behind them, a portal opened from above and spat out the two Benson children. Melissa fell face first onto the floor and Marbles landed on top of her. The three adult cyborgs were in awe of the portal. It was a rare phenomena that was known only to happen by nature's force and had never been controlled by anyone... until now.

The three of them ran to the aid of the children. Marbles looked at his surroundings, amazed by the sight yet confused as to where exactly he was.

"My goodness!" Sir Dalhart exclaimed recognizing the children, "Are you alright? We all thought you were dead!"

"I'm fine," the boy replied also recognizing who he was speaking with (both children had spoken to the kind ruler via their parents' Skwaks), "But where am I?"

"Control Central," Richard answered shaking Marbles' hand, "My name is Richard Stanley. I am the chief technician for the computer system here. It's a very important part of the way the facility functions."

"Yeah Rich, we've got all the time in the world for intros. Right now we have a bit of a situation here!" yelled Frank whom was kneeling beside an unconscious, seizuring Melissa.

Marbles shouted her name and rushed down next to her, as did Sir Dalhart and Richard.

"What happened to her Marbles? Do you know?" Sir Dalhart asked, worry all over his face.

"She was trying to protect me from a bunch of cyborgs that were chasing us. They shot her with a magnetite gun!"

"Yes. I see," exclaimed Frank holding up her injured and shaking arm, "The magnetite is still there!"

"Bring her to the medical area at once," the Cyber-ruler ordered, "This case is severe!"

"Yes sir," the cyborg replied as he picked up the small child and carried her out of the main control room.

"She'll be fine Marbles," Sir Dalhart said seeing the concerned look on the young cyborg's face, "They'll remove the magnetite from the wound which should stop the seizure and then they'll do further testing to treat any possible damage to her physical condition."

"I don't understand though. She wasn't like this when she first got shot."

"The mind is a very powerful tool," Richard said as he stood back up, "She was probably too focused on trying to get both of you out of there to give in to the effects of the magnetite."

"Not to mention she fell pretty hard just now," Sir Dalhart added, "That alone would be enough to knock anyone out, at the very least."

Marbles nodded politely and looked around the room again. It was an enormous glass dome with the previously stated supercomputer hanging overhead, a large control panel standing beneath the monitor. There were several smaller panels below the bridge-like floor they stood on. In short, this was every aspiring computer technician's dream.

"This place is incredible!" Marbles said as he took it all in.

"Thank you Marbles," said the Cyber-ruler smiling, "But I must talk to you about some things. I need to know the exact events that have transpired since yesterday."

One hour and several tears later, Sir Dalhart and Richard had been told all of what the six-year-old cyborg had recently experienced: a fire that burned down his house, the death of his mother before his very eyes, everything. The two adults felt terrible for the children. It took everything in Richard's power not to show his extreme anger and hatred towards the enemy for stooping so low.

"Don't cry Marbles," Sir Dalhart said softly hugging the son of his two most trusted employees, "They would not want you to grieve."

"I know, I know," the child said calming down.

"You must be exhausted by now," Richard said as he realized just how much the two little cyborgs had to endure -both physically and mentally- in the past twelve hours or so.

Marbles only yawned in response.

"Take him to Eileen's former bedroom," Sir Dalhart whispered to his technician not wanting to re-upset the child, "Let him rest as long as he needs to."

"Will do Sir Dalhart."

Once Richard and Marbles were out of the room, Sir Dalhart looked back up at the display of the burned down Benson house. Now alone in the room, he finally allowed tears to fall from his own eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Melissa groaned in pain as she slowly came to consciousness about an hour and a half after she fell out of the portal. When she realized she was in an unfamiliar place and was being bandaged by a complete stranger, she immediately began to panic.

"Don't be alarmed little one," the cyborg caring for her said, "My name is Dr. Adams. I am the medical examiner here at Control Central."

"Control Central?''

"Yes," Dr. Adams said smiling politely, "This is wh-"

"I know," Melissa interrupted, "But when did I end up here? The last thing I remember is jumping through a portal with..." her voice trailed off as she realized her brother was absent, "MARBLES! Where is he?!"

"Don't worry dear," the doctor answered, "He's asleep in a room down the hallway." (Dr. Adams was also taking caution not to mention the deceased parents).

The doctor then ran a full medical exam on the eight-year-old while he explained what happened while she was unconscious. Aside from a minor fever, the girl was in perfect condition. But it was clear that she also needed to rest. Dr. Adams carried her to a currently unoccupied bedroom, the former occupant having retired three days prior. To calm her fever, Dr. Adams gave her a glass of iced water and laid a wet wash cloth over her forehead.

"Is there anything else you need right now?" Dr. Adams asked taking the half-drank glass from Melissa's small hands.

"Not now. Thank you. But if you would please check on my brother..."

"I know Melissa, I know," he replied, "Just go to sleep now. You need to get rid of this fever."

Dr. Adams turned off the light and left the bedroom. Melissa lay uncomfortably a few moments. She was never one to tolerate heat very well and now was no exception. Even the slightest bit of excess warmth really got to her. But eventually exhaustion overtook her and she fell fast asleep.

Dr. Adams did not break his promise. He quietly opened the door of Eileen's former bedroom to see Marbles sound asleep. The doctor expected that these two children would most likely sleep the rest of the day and long into the night, after all they had been through the past twelve hours.

As Dr. Adams walked down the hallway he thought to himself, _"She really does look out for that boy. She'll be a great mother some day. In fact she may as well be __**his**__ mother..."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sir Dalhart sat on his bed, looking at a photograph of Clyde and Eileen. In the photo, Eileen was cradling a two-month-old baby girl. (Of course that baby was Melissa). Clyde was next to his wife with one arm around her waist. The kind ruler of Cyberspace still was struggling to believe they were gone. Just then he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said putting the photo on his nightstand.

The door opened. It was Dr. Adams.

"Dr. Adams, how's the girl? Will she be alright?"

"Yes Sir Dalhart. She'll be fine. The seizures stopped as soon as the magnetite was removed. Her arm will most likely be sore for a couple days and she is currently running a fever. I expect the fever to be gone by tomorrow morning however."

"So there's nothing else wrong?" Sir Dalhart asked.

"Nothing," the brunette doctor answered.

"That's good."

"Will you be alright though sir?" Dr. Adams asked. He knew the male cyborg never handled death well.

"I have come to a decision," Sir Dalhart answered.

The doctor could tell from the look in the cyborg's grey eyes that this would not be good.

"I will be resigning from office in two years time."

"Sir, you don't intend on giving Abaddon control of Cyberspace?" the doctor asked shocked.

"I do Dr. Adams. We can't let anymore lives be destroyed," Sir Dalhart answered defeated, "Besides the Cyber Constitution specifically says that 'At any time any citizen may call for an election for the rulership of Cyberspace.'1 So if the people don't like him they can easily find a new ruler."

"But who knows how much damage he can do before that?" the doctor shouted angrily. He could not BELIEVE what he was hearing.

"Dr. Adams! It is the only option!" Sir Dalhart said impatiently, "Now please. I would like to be alone now."

Dr. Adams nodded and left the room. Sir Dalhart buried his face in his hands.

_"How could this happen?"_ he thought, _"How could this happen?"_

* * *

1 Refer to episode 204: "True Colors"

Please Review. And tell me if you caught the foreshadowing to a particular episode of Cyberchase.


	9. Chapter 9

**~Chapter Nine~**

Dr. Adams was right. Both children slept the entire day and night away. Marbles was the first to rise at around 9:00 A.M. He had slept for exactly twenty four hours which even for a human would be a large amount, but being a cyborg he only required eight hours as opposed to ten for a human child his age.

-Cyborgs, are in fact, very physically different from humans. Though they also reach full mental and physical maturity by eighteen to twenty five years of age, the average life span for cyborgs is an astonishing 300 years (when designed from infant form). To add to that, the aging process does not take place until their mid-200s. As far as sleep, a full-grown cyborg only needs five hours versus the required seven to nine for humans. And (having a body that runs almost completely on wires, circuits, and electricity), a normal body temperature would be 105 degrees, a deadly number for any human.-

Marbles rose from his bed and stretched. It was one of the best nights of rest he ever had. The bed's mattress was made purely from faux feathers, as were the two large pillows, and the comforter was made with only the finest wool in all of Cyberspace.

_"Now what?" _Marbles thought. He had never actually been to Control Central and had now idea what to do.

He washed his face in the adjoining bathroom and then stepped outside bedroom. To the side of the door were two boxes, one large one small, both with his name on it. Marbles grabbed the two boxes and placed them on the bed. He opened the larger box first. In it was a stack of neatly folded clothing and two shoe boxes with a note laid on top.

_"Dear Marbles, I had one of my workers Paul buy you and Melissa some clothes and toiletries. The toiletries are in the smaller box. There is a toothbrush, tooth paste, and shampoo amongst many things. Please let me know if there's anything else you need. -Sir Dalhart"_

Marbles opened the smaller box to see exactly what the note had said. After taking a bath and brushing his teeth, Marbles, being a boy after all, picked the first outfit he found in the box. He wore a simple white t-shirt and blue shorts along with a pair of white sneakers. After Marbles had finished dressing, he left the bedroom and made his way to the main control room, not knowing where else to go. On the way he ran into a male cyborg with the body of a human man from the hips up and legs that were shaped like one stick with a wheel instead of feet. The cyborg had purple hair and brown eyes.

"Sorry!" they both said as they bumped into each other.

"Oh you must be Marbles Benson," the cyborg said holding out his hand, "My name is Paul."

"Good morning Paul," Marbles answered politely while shaking the borg's hand, "Are you the one who gave me the clothes?"

"I am," Paul answered, "Do they fit well?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Your welcome little one," Paul replied. He paused a moment realizing where the young boy was probably on his way to. "Things are very busy in the main control room right now. I recommend not going in there. There's a kitchen downstairs and to the left. Most everyone here ate a while ago so you'd probably only find some fruit and cereal, but feel free to help yourself. There's also a rec room downstairs with a television and some games. There's probably nobody down there right now."

"Ok," Marbles replied, "Thank you Paul."

"No problem Marbles. Now I have to get going. There are some documents I left in my room."

The two cyborgs said their goodbyes and went on their way. Paul felt so bad for the little boy.

_"It shouldn't have to be this way,"_ Paul thought to himself, _"Its not fair!"_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Paul was right. Things were hectic at the main control room. Sir Dalhart and Richard were speaking with the enemy, Abaddon, via the main supercomputer in the center of the control room.

"What do you want you psychotic demon?!" Richard shouted angrily at the screen displaying Abaddon from his secret hideaway.

"Richard calm down!" Sir Dalhart said turning to his technician.

"For once our leader is right," Abaddon said with hatred brimming in his red eyes, "Now, I presume by now you know about the tragic accident which occurred in Pompadoria last night, killing all four of the Bensons."

"That was no accident and you know it!" Sir Dalhart said pretending the children were dead so Abaddon would not search for them, "You're men put a bomb in that house and then shot Eileen and the children point blank when they tried to escape!"

"Correction Sir Stupid!" Abaddon said mockingly causing the leader to clench his fists in frustration, "My men may have taken care of the wife and children for me. But I proudly take responsibility for the fire that destroyed Clyde Samuel Benson. I sent Clyde a logic buster, addressed from his respected leader, that proved strong enough to make his computer explode to a frenzy of flames, BURNING HIM ALIVE!"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Sir Dalhart hissed.

The insane cyborg just laughed evilly as Richard's rage increased to the point that his face was crimson red. If he ever came face to face with Abaddon, it would not be pretty.

"Just. Tell us. Why. We. Are. Speaking to you!" Richard demanded through gritted teeth.

"I want Cyberspace that's why!" Abaddon screamed.

At this point, Sir Dalhart decided to tell the enemy his plans of resigning soon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile, Marbles had found his way to the kitchen. When he walked in he saw Frank sitting at the table drinking coffee.

"Good morning Marbles," Frank said, looking up to see the boy.

"Good morning Frank," Marbles replied.

"Did you want something to eat?"

"Yes please."

Frank and Marbles went to the pantry to pick a cereal.

_"He has such good manners," _Frank thought as he handed Marbles the cereal he wanted.

The two sat silently at the table while Frank finished his coffee and Marbles ate his cereal.

"Frank?" Marbles finally asked.

"Yes Marbles?"

"What's it like to work here?"

Frank thought for a moment about the question. Sir Dalhart was by all means a wonderful leader. He was loved and respected by all the workers at Control Central, whether their job there was political or technological. Frank was one of the workers who helped with the political side of things and he, like everyone else saw Sir Dalhart as a close and trusted friend as well as a leader.

On the other hand, there were a few coworkers that simply bugged the circuits out of him. Richard Stanley was on the top of that list. Sure he was friendly and intelligent, but he was also incredibly short tempered and impatient. Then there was Paul who was always either late, forgetting something, or both. Many times Frank had felt that he and Eileen were the only truly responsible workers at Control Central. And now that Eileen was dead, he felt he was the only responsible one. Add the immense stress that everyone had been under since Abaddon started leading his rebellion, a job at Control Central wasn't exactly the happiest career in Cyberspace right now.

"Interesting," Frank finally answered. After all, it was at least interesting.

"Oh," Marbles replied as he took another bite of his cereal.

Frank decided to change the subject.

"I hear you want to be a computer technician some day?" Frank asked the boy.

"Oh more than anything else!" Marbles said dreamily.

Frank smiled at the boy's innocence. "Well be patient and believe in yourself," he said, "You'll get there!"

Marbles smiled back at Frank. "Thanks! I will!"

Frank looked down at his watch.

"I have to go now Marbles," he said, "There's a Cyber-Congress meeting today and I have to announce Sir Dalhart's latest initiatives.

"Ok," Marbles said, "Have a nice day Frank."

"You too Marbles!"

_"Initiatives!" _Frank thought as he made his way to Control Central's hangar bay, _"Sounds more like giving up to me!"_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was noon when Melissa finally woke up. She was more than relieved to have her fever ridden of but flinched in pain as she stretched. Like Dr. Adams thought, her arm was still sore from the injury. Melissa opened the door to find the exact same two boxes as Marbles had found outside his room. After opening the smaller box, she immediately went to take a shower. The fever had her sweating profusely all night and the sweat had dried on her skin causing her nightgown to stick to her like glue.

After showering, Melissa threw on a fuschia pink sundress with white sandals. Her box of toiletries had come with a few hair accessories, one of which was a white head band that she neatly placed on her head, instead of pushing her hair back with it, so that her bangs still fell just above her eyebrows. As she brushed her hair she heard somebody knock on the door.

"Come in," she said.

Marbles opened the door and walked in. The minute Melissa saw her little brother she dropped her brush and ran over to hug him, showering her brother with love. Marbles was taken aback at first. They were always close and he clung to Melissa like she was his mother, especially now. But he did not expect her to be this happy to see him. But then he hugged her back, relieved that she was alright.

"I'm so glad you're alright Marbles," Melissa said hugging him tighter.

"I'm glad you are too. You were shaking when we fell out of the portal."

"Oh Melissa," Dr. Adams said coming in, "I was just about to come wake you. But I see that won't be necessary. How is your fever?"

"Its completely gone!" Melissa said happily, "I feel much better now."

"Very good," the doctor replied, "Sir Dalhart would like both of you to join him for lunch in about an hour. He has some things he needs to discuss with the two of you."

"Are we in trouble?" Melissa asked.

"No of course not!" Dr. Adams laughed, "Its about where the two of you will live from now on. Meet him in the kitchen at 1:30. In the meantime he says you're both free to watch T.V and/or play games in the rec room."

"Thank you Dr. Adams," Melissa replied, "But where is the rec room?"

"I'll show you Melissa," Marbles answered, "I was just playing darts down there."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So what's the main control room like?" Melissa asked as she threw a dart with her good arm.

"Its HUGE!" Marbles answered as he threw another, "Its like a big glass dome and there's this big computer and a whole bunch of other cool stuff!"

"Sounds awesome!" Melissa threw her last dart which made it to the center of the circle. "I win!"

"No fair!" Marbles pouted.

"Cheer up Marbles!" the eight-year-old said reassuringly, "You won the last time!"

She then noticed the clock on the wall read 1:20.

"Come on Marbles!" Melissa said as she put the darts away, "We have to meet Sir Dalhart in ten minutes."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You're father had made out a will," Sir Dalhart said to the children once the three of them were seated, "It was shortly after you were born Melissa. I was able to receive a copy from his life insurance company."

Sir Dalhart pulled out a folder that contained Clyde Benson's will.

"Amongst several things it talks about who would raise the two of you in such a case as this. It says here 'I don't expect to die young, but in a career such as mine, anything can happen. Now that I am a father it is important to me that my little girl, and any children that I have after her are raised in a loving and protective household. Therefore I leave my child, and any children we have in the future, to the care of my longtime friend Margaret Lovelace if fate should cause my wife and I to no longer be able to do so.'"

At this Sir Dalhart and Melissa had to blink several times to hold back their tears. Marbles however let the tears fall from his eyes, but still made the effort not to completely fall apart.

"I don't think we ever met Margaret Lovelace," Melissa said.

"You will like her I'm sure," Sir Dalhart said, "She and your father were friends since college and she even used to work with Clyde as part of my spy group. But after this..er... situation, she quit her job and moved to Helping Hand Land with her daughter. I believe the two of you children will get along well with the girl also. Her name is Ada and she's just you're age Marbles."

"That sounds cool," Marbles said.

Sir Dalhart smiled at him. "But the two of you must know that she is very formal in her ways of living. Manners and etiquette are very important in the Lovelace household. She will teach you to be refined, to have the right posture, the whole nine cyber-yards. But by the time the two of you are grown, I can guarantee, you'll both be poised enough to be mistaken as royalty."

The children laughed at that, little did they know that they would turn out just that way.

"Margaret and her daughter will be here tomorrow at noon," Sir Dalhart informed them, "Make sure you are both ready, she doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Yes Sir Dalhart," the siblings said simultaneously.

Sir Dalhart nodded politely and got up from his chair. "Have a nice rest of the day. If you need me I'm in the main control room."

With that the Cyber-Ruler left the kitchen and Melissa and Marbles went back downstairs to the rec room.


	10. The Lovelace's Story

This chapter is just going to be a quick history of the Lovelace's. I didn't think it would make sense to put this within another chapter. A few of the dances mentioned can be found in the film "Felicity: An American Girl Adventure."

* * *

**~The Lovelace's Story~**

It had been Margaret Lovelace's intention that her daughter, Ada, be programmed to be as exceptionally bright as Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, the renown 19th century British mathematician from Earth, or the "Real World" as Cyber-citizens would say.

There are many options when a cyborg is ready to make another cyborg. They can choose to have it be "born" (meaning the new cyborg is booted as an infant). This is when the creator's intent is to raise a family. The creator can also choose to have it designed at an older age in the need of an assistant of some sorts. After that, the creator may choose if the new cyborg will have certain traits and abilities programmed into them, or if their traits and abilities will be a surprise, something the creator did not already intend for his/her creation to attain. Looks can also be the creator's choice or something they will not know until after the new cyborg comes out of its "shell." In addition, if this new cyborg is meant to be booted as an infant or child, there is the "parent" option. This procedure would cause the cyborg's development to be like that of mammals, where the "DNA" of their family tree is passed onto them. This is almost always the option that those intending to have a son or daughter will choose.

Margaret Lovelace had chosen the "infant" option when creating her daughter six years ago. The female cyborg had great admiration for the Lady Lovelace of Britain, Earth, so much so that she had changed her own surname after the famous mathematician. To further her tribute to the first computer programmer, Margaret programmed Ada so that she would grow up to have just as much knowledge in technology and mathematics as Lady Lovelace and that she would be able to absorb everything taught to her exceptionally fast. This was the only trait that Ada was programmed with. Everything else would remain a surprise to the single mother.

What Margaret Lovelace did not intend on though was her daughter actually being a cyber-parallel of the first Lady Lovelace. Was it the same soul reincarnated? No. However it had become quite evident quite quickly that she was "Real World" Ada's alternate. When Margaret Lovelace became aware of this, she adjusted their lifestyle to that of the life "Real World" Ada would've grown up in. The mother and daughter dressed in 1800s style attire, had an 1800s style house, and moved to Cybersite Helping Hand Land. The Cybersite itself did not have an 1800s theme, however manners and graciousness were of high value, due to the site being founded by a group of Catholic Cyber-Monks some seventy years ago. Thus, making it the best place for the Lovelaces to live.

However, Margaret Lovelace was the assistant technician at Control Central, and therefore had to be away from home often. To solve this problem she created a sort of nanny-cyborg, equipped with all the traits necessary to raise a child. She cared for Ada when Margaret was at Control Central. But once Abaddon's rebellion group started to arise three years ago, the female cyborg immediately retired and returned to Helping Hand Land. True, the army Abaddon was slowly building was of no threat at the time, but Margaret preferred to leave her job in case they eventually became stronger and began searching for her the way they had with her late friend, Clyde, and his darling wife.

This proved to be a good move.

When Margaret returned home she took up a part-time job as a computer technician so that she could still make a living and raise her daughter at the same time. The nanny remained living with the two, working more as a maid than anything else, but still played a minor role in bringing Ada up.

Ada Lovelace, alternate of Augusta Ada Byron, was taught at a private Catholic seminary, which also taught their students social etiquette and how to be poised. The girls and boys were separated during gym class. The boy students went to the type of P.E that most people are familiar with, while the girls' P.E class was more of a dance class that taught all sorts of different traditional dances: Ballet, Ballroom, Tap, Irish Step Dance, Minuet, Cotillion, Quadrille, Mazurka and various Reels. The type of dance taught varied every week or so and by grade five, the girls would be tested on two of their choice.

Ada Lovelace flourished in her school academically. She excelled in science and mathematics due to her specific programming, but also was wonderful in her English, French, and dancing. (The Minuet and the Waltz being her favorites). She was, in fact, so academically gifted that she was placed two grades beyond her age.

Socially, Ada got along well with her classmates despite them all being two years older than her. She was at first teased for accent, which had developed partially because of who her alternate was but also because Margaret's lifelong obsession with the mathematician had caused her to develop a slight British accent, which she passed down to her daughter. However, her undeniable charm, wittiness, and girliness eventually pretty much forced her into popularity. All of this was, again, the result of being a cyber parallel of the famous computer programmer. But thankfully, two traits of her real world alternate were never inherited: poor health and lack of commitment in a relationship. (But that last part is something that need not be discussed until later).

This was the life of the Lovelaces. This was the life that, even before little Ada was born, the late Clyde Benson could see in his friend Margaret's future. When his precious daughter was born two years before Margaret's daughter, he already knew that Margaret was going to be a good family woman and that he could trust her with his own offspring if the unthinkable ever happened.

And now that the unthinkable has happened, he is looking down from Heaven knowing that his two darling children will be taken care of.

The life the Lovelaces live is the life of peace, love, and etiquette. They are a small, but happy family. And it is this life of happiness and formality that Melissa and Marbles Benson will now be a part of...

* * *

Please Review! Next chapter may take a while but I will do my best to get it finished ASAP.


	11. Chapter 11

So I was almost completely done with this chapter & then my computer goes blue screen & shuts down, saving nothing! I swear, its like Hacker is real & wants revenge on me for not putting him in the story. So anyway, here's the next chapter. Sorry if its not that good. The first version was much better.

* * *

**~Chapter Eleven~**

Location: Helping Hand Land:

It was 10:30 A.M and Margaret Lovelace was in Ada's bedroom tightening the laces of her daughter's corset. The two would have to leave for Control Central by 11:00 if they wanted to be on time to pick up the Benson children.

"Mother?" Ada asked, "Will I like Melissa and Marbles?"

"Yes dear," Margaret replied, "Their father Clyde, may God rest his soul, was a great friend of mine since college. We used to study together, play games together, all sorts of things. He was a very intelligent, kind, and caring cyborg. And I know that those traits were passed down to his children."

"Will they be going to school with me?"

"Yes Ada," her mother said in her English accent, "Melissa will be entering the third grade with you and Marbles will be entering the first grade."

"But I thought Marbles was the same age as me," Ada said, "Why isn't he going to be in my class?"

"Because you are two levels above everyone else your age."

"But how do we know Marbles isn't also?" the child argued.

"We don't yet," Margaret said as she tightened the last lace of Ada's corset, "We will find out if that's the case once school starts in September. Now go get dressed. We must leave in twenty minutes. Pick something semiformal."

Location: Control Central:

By 11:45 A.M the Benson children were dressed, packed, and waiting on the sofa in the main control room. Sir Dalhart had told them, also, to dress in something semiformal. Melissa wore a white, short sleeved church dress that came down just above her knees with black Mary Jane shoes to match. Her blue hair had been braided into two pigtails. Marbles wore a blue shirt with beige slacks and brown shoes.

"Why are we here now if the Lovelaces won't be here until noon?" Marbles asked his sister impatiently.

"Because if they come early we don't want to keep them waiting," Melissa replied.

In all honesty though, Melissa was also becoming impatient. This room they were waiting in looked to much like the room from her nightmare a few nights ago. She kept telling herself how it was just a dream. But in the back of her mind she was worried that, at some point, that green cyborg would barge in and drag the two of them away to who knows where. Just then, Sir Dalhart came through the entry door, to her relief.

"Melissa, Marbles," he said, "The Lovelaces are here. They are waiting in the hangar bay. Grab your boxes and come with me."

The children did as they were told and followed the cyber-ruler out to the hangar bay where Margaret and Ada Lovelace were standing next to their cyber-coupe. Margaret wore a floor length, elegant lavender gown that had short frilly sleeves which fell off her shoulders. Her dirty blonde hair was in a low bun. Ada wore a floor length white gown with short puffed sleeves and her golden hair fell in waves down to her waist.

"Hello," Margaret said curtsying, "You two must be Melissa and Marbles Benson. My name is Margaret Lovelace and this is my daughter Ada."

Margaret looked to her daughter expecting her to curtsy and introduce herself, but instead the girl just stood there staring at Marbles, her cheeks turning bright red.

_"He's so handsome," _Ada thought.

"Ada," Margaret said grabbing the child's attention, "Please introduce yourself."

Ada turned to look at her mother, then turned her gaze back to the two children in front of her. She curtsied sheepishly. "Hello."

Melissa had caught the look Ada gave and was sure she knew what it meant.

_"This is gonna be interesting,"_ she thought refraining herself from laughter.

"Thank you for letting us stay with you," Melissa said.

"You are most welcome child," Margaret replied glad to see the girl already was quite polite, "I hope that you will both be content in your new home." She turned to Sir Dalhart. "And it has been wonderful to see you again Sir. I hope all is well with you?"

"Yes Miss Lovelace. And it is wonderful to see you again as well. I must say your daughter has grown to be very beautiful."

"Thank you Sir," Margaret and Ada said simultaneously.

Sir Dalhart then turned to face the Benson children and gave them both new Skwak Pads.

"I guess this is good-bye for now," Sir Dalhart said, "I have enjoyed your company here the past few days. Don't hesitate to call. God bless!"

"Good-bye!" Melissa and Marbles said as they climbed in the back of the cyber coupe with Ada.

"My prayers are with you and your workers during this time of trial Sir Dalhart," Margaret said curtsying one last time, "Good day."

Sir Dalhart smiled politely as Margaret got into the cyber coupe and started the engine. With that the four passengers took off, waving good-bye to the cyber-ruler as they drove off into Cyberspace.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

An hour later the cyber coupe landed in Helping Hand Land. Melissa and Marbles were speechless when they laid eyes on the large three story manor in front of them.

"You guys live here?!" Melissa said carrying the boxes Paul had given her the other day.

"Yes Melissa," Margaret answered smiling, "And now the two of you live here also."

The four walked into the manor and were greeted by the maid/nanny, who was simply called Nanny due to her original design purposes.

"Welcome back Miss Margaret and Miss Ada," she said curtsying.

"Are the children's bedrooms ready?" Margaret asked.

"Yes Ma'am," she said then noticed the Bensons, "And you two must be the new housemates. My name is Nanny. I am the maid here. It is a pleasure to meet you and my condolences go out to you."

Margaret glared at Nanny. The cyborg had been given specific orders not to bring up the recent tragedy the two had experienced. Nanny caught the glare and quickly changed the subject.

"Here I'll take those boxes and show the two of you to your rooms," she said grabbing the boxes.

"Leave the larger boxes with me Nanny," Margaret said, "I must approve of the clothing Paul provided them with."

"Yes Miss Margaret," she said giving Margaret the large boxes, "I believe what they're wearing now is compliant with our lifestyle?"

Margaret looked over the two children's outfits.

"They may wear them for today only. But Melissa's dress is much too short. Her shoes will do for playing outside. Marbles' slacks are alright, but the shirt has got to go after today,' she said, "However we will deal with that later. Please proceed in showing the children their rooms."

"Yes Miss Margaret."

With that, Nanny lead Melissa and Marbles upstairs to their bedrooms while Margaret took the boxes of clothing to her parlor to examine, Ada following close behind her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"As I suspected," Margaret said disapprovingly as she looked through the different clothing, "When will Paul realize that we simply do not dress this way here?! All of these clothes will have to be donated to the church's charity drive."

"Mother?" Ada asked from the seat across from Margaret's, looking up from the poem she was writing.

"Yes dear?"

"Why do we have to dress a specific way?"

"It is the way that your real world alternate would have dressed my child," the mother answered sweetly, "Because you are so much like her, I want you to be able to grow up the same way she did. August Ada Byron never would have worn such short skirts. Granted, you may at some point later on in life decide you want to wear more modernized clothes. If you do, I respect that decision and will not try to stop you. But until you are old enough to make those decisions, this is how things will be."

Margaret paused, then said, "And I hope that you will always remember your manners?"

"Yes."

"Good," Margaret said smiling.

"I hope that I can grow up to be as intelligent as the Countess of Lovelace," Ada said dreamily.

"You already are darling," Ada's mother replied, "If not, even more."

The two were silent a few moments as Margaret continued looking through the clothing boxes and Ada finished her poem.

"Marbles is quite handsome," Ada said breaking the silence.

Margaret smiled. "Ah so that's why you clammed up like that before?!" she said laughing.

Ada blushed.

"Yes Ada. He is an adorable little thing. He looks so much like his father too, may God rest his soul."

"What happened to their parents mother? Are they dead?" Ada asked curiously.

"Alas they are Ada," Margaret said, sadness creeping into her voice, "They were both killed in an accident a few days ago. But please do not speak with them about it. They are both very sensitive about it right now."

"Yes mother," Ada replied. She thought for a moment, then asked, "Will you tell me more about their father?"

"Yes dear."

And Margaret started a long conversation about all the wonderful times she'd had with her late friend.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After Nanny had shown the Benson children their bedrooms as well as everything else on that floor, the two siblings sat on top of Melissa's canopy bed in her bedroom and talked about their new home.

"I still can't believe we're gonna go to school Melissa!" Marbles said excitedly.

Marbles had been home schooled his entire life and Melissa most of hers. She got to spend a few months of kindergarten at a public school before the rebellion had become so great, that leaving the premises of Forever Forest was too dangerous and she had to be taken out of school in favor of a private tutor. It had been such a short time that Melissa was in school and it had been so long ago, that she remembered nothing about the students or the teachers. So Melissa was just as excited as her younger brother.

"I know Marbles," she said joyfully, "And this is such a beautiful cybersite. We will be happy here."

"Yeah," Marbles agreed, "Plus Miss Lovelace and Ada seem really nice."

"They do," Melissa said, "And I think Ada may have a crush on you Marbles!"

"EW! GROSS!" Marbles exclaimed, "Girls have cooties!"

"Oh is that so?!" Melissa said pretending to be insulted.

"Well..." Marbles said thoughtfully, "Maybe not all of them."

Melissa laughed.

"But what if we don't get along? or the kids in school don't like us?" Marbles said suddenly nervous about this big change.

"Oh Marbles you worry too much," Melissa said reassuringly, "Everything will be alright. And besides, no matter what, we'll always be together. We'll always have each other."

Marbles smiled and hugged his sister tightly. Melissa returned the hug.

"I love you sister!"

Melissa hugged her brother even tighter, "I love you too Marbles!"

Nanny was dusting the banister of the staircase just outside the bedroom and had heard the entire conversation. She glanced into the room to see the two siblings hugging each other and she smiled to herself.

_"What sweet children they seem to be," _Nanny thought as she continued dusting, "_And Melissa. She seems to care a lot about her little brother. She is more like a mother to him than a sister. He might as well just call her mother."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that day, Melissa and Marbles went over to the playroom where Ada was playing with one of her dolls.

"Hello Melissa. Marbles," Ada said when she saw them come in, "Do you like your rooms?"

"Yeah," Marbles said, "They're so big."

"I know," Ada said, blushing again, "Would the two of you like to play dolls with me? I have lots of different ones."

Marbles frowned. Dolls?! Both girls caught the frown. They exchanged quick glances, then burst into laughter.

"Well, my mother bought both of you lots of toys and games. They're wrapped in those packages over there," Ada said pointing to a corner of the room where a group of boxes wrapped like Christmas presents stood, "I'm sure there's something we can all play."

Marbles and Melissa walked over to the wrapped packages and started opening the ones with their names on them. Amongst Melissa's toys were several beautiful dolls that came with their own personal wardrobes of clothing, stuffed animals, and different dress up costumes ranging from princess, to fairy, to even female super hero costumes. Marbles gifts included action figures, sports stuff, board games, a few stuffed animals, and male dress up costumes. After all three children looked through the things they had, they decided to play dress up.

"I'll be a super hero," Marbles said taking out one of his costumes.

"Me too," said Melissa.

"Me three," said Ada, "Its one of the few times I don't have to dress so girly."

For hours the three children pretended to be a trio of heroes, using Ada's and Melissa's dolls as the victim they were trying to save. Ada had a play castle that they put the dolls in. The three pretended that the dolls were princesses that got locked away in the castle by some horrible villain. For the villain they would use Marbles' new set of action figures from a popular boys' television show. At one point they even had Ada be the princess that Marbles and Melissa had to save by themselves. 'The Princess of Parallelograms' she called herself.

"There Princess. You are safe now," Marbles said at the end of their pretend mission.

"Thank you both for saving me from that awful cyborg," Ada said dramatically.

The three put their costumes away and decided to play a board game instead . They were all glad to have become friends so quickly.

"You know," Ada said, as she rolled the dice for the game, "If we're going to be a team of superheroes I think we should have a name for ourselves."

"You're right Ada," Marbles agreed, "But what should we call ourselves?"

"How about the 'Three Magical Flowers Always There At Each Hour?!'" Ada suggested dreamily.

"WHAT?!" the siblings said looking at her as if she were crazy.

"Well what did you two have in mind?" she asked, slightly offended by their reaction.

The three children were silent a few minutes, thinking of some sort of name for themselves.

"I think I might have an idea," Melissa said after a while.

"Well," Marbles said, "Tell us.

"How about..." said Melissa, "How about the 'Cybersquad?'"

"I think its simply perfect!" Ada exclaimed.

"I like it too," Marbles said, "Cybersquad it is!"

So with that, the three new friends had come up with a name for themselves: The Cybersquad. It would be a name that they would use for years, even when they were full grown and no longer played childish superhero games. A name simply used to acknowledge their special close friendship together.

Little did they know, however, that this name would be used for another group of three children many years later. Little did they know just how important the term "Cybersquad" would someday be...

* * *

Review as always. Again my apologies for keeping everyone waiting so long. Laptop's fault, not mine :)


	12. Chapter 12

Characters Lauren and Francesca inspired by the characters Lavinia and Jessie from the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel, "A Little Princess." These characters were the school bullies who were extremely jealous of the main character, Sara Crewe, often times mocking her.

* * *

**~Chapter Twelve~**

It had now been a month and a half since the Benson children had moved in with the Lovelaces. The summer had been spent teaching Melissa and Marbles the way of gentlemen and gentlewomen. Though Margaret Lovelace only required the girls to wear corsets for special occasions, Melissa had spent most her days in them to help straighten her posture and both siblings were taught the specific rules of etiquette. Things such as: how to address strangers, the proper way to curtsy/bow, and overall precise manners (no slurring of words, no slang terms, have clear pronunciation, e.t.c). By the end of the summer, the new arrivals had memorized all the basics. Now here they were, about to start their first day of school...

Ada and Melissa were in Ada's bedroom looking over themselves in the mirror, making sure that their school uniforms were not wrinkled or moth ball ridden in any area.

"Melissa," Ada said, "We aren't allowed to wear jewelry in school. It is part of the dress code. You will have to remove that."

Melissa held her silver heart-shaped locket in her hand. Inside was a photo of Eileen to the right and Clyde to the left. Amongst the burnt debris left from the fire back at home were only a few recognizable items. The locket was one of them along with a few photographs, toys, some of the parents' clothing, and Eileen's diary. It was in this diary, that investigators found an entry in which Eileen had written that the locket was to be an upcoming birthday present for Melissa. Since it was delivered, the little blue-haired cyborg never took it off her neck. Melissa felt that they were still there when she wore it.

-There had been no funeral for Clyde and Eileen Benson as their will requested there not be one and there was no burial for there were no bodies to bury. Eileen's body had completely dematerialized and Clyde's body was burnt to ashes by the fire, not even so much as a sock from the outfit he wore that night could be found in the debris. Instead, Sir Dalhart had a Memorial built for the late couple in the place that was once the Benson household. However, the children were not to attend. The cyber-government was going with the lie General Biff had told to Abaddon: Melissa and Marbles had been caught in their attempted escape back in the Forever Forest and were shot and killed. Because of this, the children could NOT be seen under the public eye until further notice.-

Melissa sighed as she took the locket off her neck and went to her bedroom next door where she placed it on her nightstand.

"You'll be able to put it back on when you come home," Ada said following her friend, "And perhaps if you speak with our instructress about the significance it holds, she may let you wear it."

"Perhaps," Melissa replied, the Lovelaces' English accent beginning to slip its way into her voice, "Say, where is my brother?"

"He's in the bathroom brushing his teeth," said Nanny poking her head in, "My! Don't you look lovely in that uniform Melissa!"

"Thank you Nanny," the girl said curtsying, "I must admit I am a tad bit nervous about my first day of class."

"Don't be darling!" Nanny said reassuringly, "Saint Mary's Private Seminary is a wonderful school and the teachers there are very kind."

"Its true," Ada added, "And the dances we learn are simply enchanting!"

Just then Marbles came over to the bedroom door in his uniform.

"I am ready," he said, also developing an English accent.

"Then off you go children," Nanny said hurrying the three out of the room and downstairs, "You do not want to be tardy your first day!"

The three children went downstairs where Margaret gave them their schoolbags and bag lunches. She also raved over how adorable the children looked in their school uniforms before kissing each of them good bye and sending them off.

"So Marbles," Ada said as they walked to school, "You have Mr. Dell this year. Correct?"

"Yes Ada," he replied.

"My friend Alice also had him when she was in first grade. She said he was very nice and had a great sense of humor."

"That's nice to know," the boy replied as he straightened his glasses, "I suppose that makes me a little less nervous."

"My goodness!" Ada exclaimed, "Neither of you have any need to be nervous. It is only school and Mother says you are both very intelligent."

The siblings blushed. The three were silent as they continued walking. Then Melissa noticed something different about her younger brother.

"Marbles," she said.

"Yes sister?" he said turning to her.

"I believe I see something growing from your head little brother," Melissa replied as she brushed her hand over his scalp, "It seems you've inherited Grandfather's light bulb."

"Light bulb?" Ada asked confused.

"Yes," Melissa replied, "In photos of our grandfather, he had a light bulb coming from on top of his head. Our mother told us it started growing out when he was thirteen years of age, but it would appear that Marbles' is growing in even earlier."

"Perhaps it is a sign," Ada suggested, "It must mean that you are more intelligent than we thought Marbles!"

The six-year-old boy turned bright red at the compliment. He wasn't sure why, but he was beginning to feel particularly nervous around Ada. She was so beautiful that, if he didn't know better, Marbles would think she truly was the Princess of parallelograms.

"Well," Ada said as they approached the school building, "Here we are! Saint Mary's Private Seminary for Elementary Students. Or just Saint Mary's for short.

Melissa and Marbles turned pale with anxiety. Ada saw it right away.

"For the last time you two! Don't be so anxious! Remember, we are the Cybersquad! We can do anything!"

The two siblings felt an immediate boost of confidence upon hearing their group name. With that, the three walked up to the doors of the school with their heads held high, prepared to face anything and everything that should come across them that day.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Mrs. Wilson's third grade class, Melissa and Ada took their seats at the desks with their name tags on top of them. In one corner of the classroom, two girls stood talking to each other when their eyes landed on Melissa.

"Who is she?" said the girl named Francesca, "I don't think I've seen her around before."

"She's probably the new girl that little-miss-genious' old-fashioned mother took in," answered the other whose name was Lauren.

"She certainly is beautiful!" Francesca said in enviously.

"She is not!" Lauren snapped, "Just look at her skin. Its blue!"

"And?" Francesca replied, "I'd say that makes her quite unique. Not many cyborgs have blue skin anymore."

"Whatever! Beauty or no beauty, if she's the Lovelaces' charity brat, she's probably just as much of a spoiled kiss-up as Ada."

The bell rang and everyone else sat at their designated seats. Mrs. Wilson, a tall black-haired cyborg, walked into the classroom.

"Good morning class!" the teacher said with a smile, "My name is Mrs. Wilson and I will be your teacher this year. All of you are new to my class, however we have a student here that is new to the entire school."

Mrs. Wilson gestured to Melissa to get up and stand beside her. The girl hesitated but got up and stood by Mrs. Wilson's side.

"Girls and boys," the teacher greeted, "This is Miss Melissa Benson. She and her younger brother have just moved here from Pompadoria and are staying with Miss Ada Lovelace and her family. I expect all of you to help her feel welcome in this school."

"I told you she was goody-two-shoes' new boarder," Lauren mouthed to Francesca.

"Melissa," Mrs. Wilson continued not noticing the girls gossiping, "Why don't you tell us about yourself?"

"Well," Melissa began, staring at the class of twenty nervously, "I have been home schooled for most of my life..."

"Lucky!" Francesca mouthed to Lauren.

"...I really like reading and I'm very fascinated by computer technology. That's about it."

At the back of the classroom, Lauren and Francesca began to laugh hysterically over the statement.

"Young ladies!" Mrs. Wilson snapped getting their attention, "Do I need to keep the two of you in during recess on the first day of class?"

"No ma'am!" the girls answered simultaneously.

"Good." The teacher turned to Melissa, "Thank you Melissa. You may take your seat now."

Melissa curtsied graciously and went back to her desk.

"Show off!" Lauren mouthed to her friend.

"Alright class," the teacher said cheerfully, "Let's begin the day with a pop quiz."

The entire class groaned at this.

"Now, now class. This won't count as a grade," the teacher replied as she passed the two-paged quiz out, "This is only for me to see where everyone is in their academic skills so that I may know your strengths and weaknesses. Then I will be able to help you in your weaknesses so you may be the best student you can be. When you finish, you may place the quiz on my desk."

There were 25 questions on the quiz: 5 correct the sentences, 5 define the word, 5 multiplication, 5 multiple choice history questions, 4 science questions, and one short answer question asking the student to write as much as they know about computers. Upon receiving the quiz, Melissa finished it within ten minutes and was the first to turn it in. Mrs. Wilson was uneasy about this at first. She knew students sometimes rushed through their quizzes and ended up failing as a result. But the teacher decided to check the quiz while she waited for others to finish. Her eyes went wide when she looked it over. Every question had been answered 100% correctly and the short answer question... well...

"How did you know all this Melissa?" she asked dumbfounded, "Especially with the computers?"

Melissa shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it's just my strong point."

"You are a very intelligent child," Mrs. Wilson replied.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Mr. Dell's first grade class, a similar situation was going on. Marbles had received the same introduction from Mr. Dell as Melissa had received in her class and, when asked to talk about himself, had given pretty much the same answer.

"Alright class, why don't we start the day with some arithmetic?" Mr. Dell said as he started to write a problem on the blackboard, "25+15: Who can tell me the answer to this question?"

Marbles was the first to raise his hand. The teacher, therefore picked him to answer the problem.

"Fourty..." the boy answered.

"Correct," the teacher said smiling as he wrote the answer on the blackboard.

"...Which squared is 1600, which cubed is 4096000000 whose square root is 64000."

Mr. Dell dropped his chalk in shock. How could somebody so young know all that by heart? The class was also in shock as they stared at the boy in silence. Finally, another boy simply said:

"What did he just say?"

"Something you're too stupid to understand!" the girl sitting beside him answered snobbishly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At 3:00 P.M, the bell rang for everyone to go home. Melissa and Ada met up with Marbles at the entry door and began to walk home when Lauren and Francesca stood in their way.

"So Ada," Lauren said to the younger girl condescendingly, "I see you've made yourself a posse of nerdy bookworms!"

"Yeah," Francesca stated and then turned to Melissa, "So Miss-Female-Einstein, tell us. Who were you and your four-eyed brother living off of before you flattered your way into the Queen's palace?"

"Pay no attention to them my friends," Ada said, in her prominent English accent, as she dragged her two friends away from the bullies with her head held high.

"Oh," Francesca yelled back at her, "Already teaching them that they're too good for us!"

"Yeah," Lauren shouted and threw a balled up piece of paper at Ada's head, "We're just second-class next to the Lovelaces aren't we?!

Ada continued to ignore the girls as the three walked on home.

"Who were they?" Marbles asked the two third-graders once the children were far away from the school.

"Two girls from our class," Melissa answered.

"Their names are Lauren and Francesca," Ada explained, "Whenever they say anything to either of you just ignore them. They are just a pair of jealous bullies who take the 'helping' out of Helping Hand Land!"

The three were silent again as they continued walking. After a while Ada asked Marbles what he thought of his teacher.

"You were right," Marbles said blushing as he spoke to the girl, "He is very humorous. And he told me with a mind like mine I would go far in life."

"That's the same thing Mrs. Wilson told me," Melissa replied in her developing English accent.

"Me too," Ada added, "Looks like the Cybersquad is the next generation of geniuses!"

"I hope so," Marbles said, "I really want to be a computer technician when I grow up."

"As do I," said Ada, somewhat flirtatiously, "That and a poet."

Marbles and Ada turned to Melissa expecting her to add to the conversation, but she seemed to be deep in thought about something.

"Melissa?" Ada said.

"Huh?"

"What about you?" Marbles asked, "What do you want to be when you're older?"

This was what Melissa had been deep in thought about. She knew she definitely wanted to do something that would help prevent what happened to her parents from happening to someone else. And she also wanted to be involved in politics the way her mother was. In fact, she wanted to be just like her mother. She always had.

"I'm not sure," Melissa finally answered, "All I know is that I want to change the world somehow. I want to help everyone in Cyberspace live happier lives."

And that she would. That all of them would. Someday...

* * *

Please review!


	13. Chapter 13

**~Chapter Thirteen~**

The next day, the three children spent recess at the swing set on the playground. Melissa and Ada sat on the swings whilst Marbles pushed Ada's swing. It was a beautiful day.

"So Melissa," Ada said, "What do you think of our dance lessons so far?"

"I rather enjoy it," the older girl answered a she swung back and forth, "I'm anticipating when we will do ballet. Its something I've wanted to do for a while now."

"Ballet is nice," Ada agreed, "But just wait until you learn the Minuet. It is such fun!"

"I know that dancing is mainly a female activity," Marbles said as he pushed Ada's swing, "But still, why don't they teach us boys? How will we know how to waltz with girls when we are older?"

"You will learn eventually Marbles" Melissa said, "The boy's part of partner dancing is always easier than the girl's."

"And if you do want to learn ahead of time," Ada added shyly, "You could always practice with me after school. I'm a very good dancer. I could easily teach you."

Marbles face turned bright red. "I would like that."

Melissa smiled as she watched the two. Ada had been crushing on Marbles since day one and after about a month of living with the Lovelaces, Marbles had began to show signs of liking her too.

_"They're so perfect for each other,"_ Melissa thought, _"If they would only admit their feelings for one another! But I suppose we're still too young."_

"Uh-oh," Ada said as she saw Lauren and Francesca walking towards them, "Here comes trouble!"

"Well hello Miss Queen of the Popular," Lauren said addressing Ada, "Enjoying being the center of attention?"

"Leave us alone," Ada snapped.

"Aawww," Francesca said mockingly, "Need some alone time with your new boyfriend?"

"We are just friends!" Ada and Marbles said, both of them blushing.

"Is that so Marbles?" Francesca asked, "Then shouldn't you be giving your own sister a push, instead of someone who's 'just a friend?'"

Lauren walked up behind Melissa's swing.

"Here Melissa," she said sarcastically, "I'll give you a push!"

Before Melissa could even react in any way, Lauren took hold of the swing's ropes and brought them as high and far back as she could. Then she pushed it forward with all her might, sending a screaming Melissa flying off. She landed with a loud _Thud_ onto the grass. Lauren flipped back her wavy, dark red hair triumphantly and high-fived Francesca as their victim lay crying on the ground.

"I'm telling on you!" Marbles shouted as Ada ran over to her friend.

But Lauren and Francesca could care less. They had already made a habit of visiting the Principal's office and knew by now how to sneak around their parents' punishments.

"Are you alright Melissa?" Ada said concerned while Marbles ran to tell a teacher.

"I'm fine," Melissa said as her tears dried, "But that really hurt just now."

Marbles came back with Mr. Dell and Mrs. Wilson. Mrs. Wilson knelt down beside the girls.

"Are you okay sweetie?" she said rubbing Melissa's back, "Your brother told us everything."

"I'm okay. Really."

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves, treating a new student like that!" Mr. Dell shouted at the two bullies, "We are all sick and tired of you girls harassing other students! God doesn't like it, the victims don't like it, and your parents don't like it! You will spend your recesses in the Principal's office for the rest of this week! And if any of us hear one more story of either of you hitting, kicking, or purposely pushing someone again you will be expelled from the seminary! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

"Yes sir," the girls said monotonously.

"Good," Mr. Dell said calming down, "Now go to the Principal's office."

Lauren and Francesca walked casually to the school building, not really caring about the consequences they were about to face...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I simply can't stand those two girls," Ada's friend Alice ranted to Melissa and Ada.

Ada and Melissa had gone to Alice's house to help her with the Science homework they'd been assigned in class and then play dolls afterwards. In just the one and a half days Alice knew Melissa, she had already decided that she would be a good friend. She was smart, friendly, and very caring.

"I agree," Ada said, "They're nothing but low-class bullies! Especially Lauren! She is such a... such a..."

"A witch! That's what she is!" Melissa laughed, finishing Ada's sentence.

"Exactly!" Ada and Alice exclaimed, also laughing at Melissa's remark.

"She really is," Alice continued, "I remember back in kindergarten, we were painting pictures and Lauren threw a full cup of black paint onto my uniform. And another time, near Valentine's day, we were cutting out heart-shaped cards. She came up behind me while the teacher wasn't looking and cut a huge chunk of my hair off!"

"My goodness!" Melissa exclaimed.

"And Francesca's almost as bad," Ada explained to the 'new girl', "One time she punched a boy so hard in the face he had a bruise for weeks. She was suspended for three days, but I say she should have gotten a month."

"You're lucky to have not broken anything Melissa," said Alice, "In fact I don't even see any bruises on you!"

"I don't bruise easily," the girl answered, "I used to climb trees for fun back when Marbles and I lived in Pompadoria and there were plenty of times when I fell off the highest branches. But no bruises."

"Lucky!" Alice said.

Melissa smiled. "Well as long as they stay far away from my brother, they can do whatever they want with me."

"Good grief Melissa," Ada exclaimed, "I've never known someone to be so protective over a younger sibling!"

"I know," Alice added, "You sound like my mom right now."

Melissa smiled. "I seem to get these comments a lot."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Marbles watched Margaret Lovelace as she attempted to fix a laptop that had been damaged after its owner spilled hot coffee onto it. It was 3:45 P.M and the girls were still at Alice's house.

"Well it would seem that Mr. Miller has damaged his laptop beyond repair," Margaret stated after hours of repairing and trying to reboot it.

"What are you going to do?" Marbles asked.

"I will have to give him his money back," Margaret replied as she wiped her hands on her apron, "I never accept payment for a job which I cannot complete."

"What shall happen to the laptop?"

"He must dispose of it and purchase a new one of course," the woman answered.

Marbles thought for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "Do you suppose..."

"Yes Marbles?" Margaret said waiting for the boy to finish his question.

"Do you suppose this cyborg would let me keep the laptop?"

Margaret was confused by this question.

"I am sure he would since there's not much he can do with it. But what in Cyberspace would you want with a broken laptop?!"

"Maybe someday I could find a solution to these types of problems by using the laptop as a sort of experiment."

Margaret smiled. _"Just like Clyde," _she thought to herself.

"Well," she said, "Alright. I will ask him. But if he says yes, than you are only to work on the 'experiments' up here in this attic. Is that understood?"

"Of course," Marbles answered, "Thank you Miss Lovelace."

"Your very welcome Marbles." Margaret paused. "Don't you have any homework?"

"Not today," Marbles answered, "Our homework was to finish whatever classwork we didn't complete and I finished it all in class."

"Well that's good," Margaret said.

"And I was the first student to finish!"

"Now Marbles we don't boast in this house," Margaret said trying to be stern but failing miserably, "But that's wonderful Marbles. You truly are one of the most intelligent children I know."

"Your daughter is very intelligent also," he said smiling at the thought of Ada.

Margaret smiled too, knowing quite well that Marbles was beginning to have a crush on her daughter. "Yes she is. All three of you are little geniuses."

"Thank you," Marbles said, "I'm going to go to my room and read, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind Marbles," Margaret said, "Have fun. It was lovely having you around while I worked on this."

"Thank you. It was fun to watch what I will eventually be doing some day," the boy answered.

Marbles then left the attic to go to his room, where he would spend the rest of his afternoon reading a biography on his favorite cyber-scientist. Margaret went downstairs to her own laptop in the parlor room and emailed her customer about the unfortunate news. After she had sent the email she went to a book shelf and grabbed a scrapbook. As she flipped through the pages, she found a photo from her college years. It had been taken on Pi day after a pie fight took place in her Calculus class. The event was so spontaneous that Margaret couldn't even remember who threw the first pie. In the photo, a young Clyde stood next to his then-girlfriend Donna, both covered head-to-toe in pie filling.

Margaret laughed lightly at the photo, reminiscing on that day. (And how long it took herself to wash the pie off)

"Oh Clyde," she whispered, "You'd be so proud of your children. They have a bright future ahead of them."

* * *

So this was kinda just a filler chapter. But please review all the same. Feel free to be completely honest!


	14. Chapter 14

**~Chapter Fourteen~**

Sir Dalhart kept his promise and two years after the tragedy in Forever Forest, Pompadoria, the cyborg resigned from office, giving all of Cyberspace to Abaddon. As General Biff said, the entire Cyber-government changed. However, it was not for the better, like Abaddon's followers had expected. Taxes were raised, poverty increased, and all retired government employees from before Abaddon's reign were no longer receiving their pay. Dr. Adams worst fears had been realized. Abaddon had brought Cyberspace to the depths of despair in just the first year of his ruler-ship. It was after this one year that a young cyborg dared to use his cyber-constitutional rights to elect Abaddon out of office and elect himself in. His name was Gerald Williams. The official debate was broadcast on cyber-wide television with millions glued to their television screen.

In the Lovelace household, two women and one young girl sat in the living room watching the debate: Margaret Lovelace, Nanny, and eleven year old Melissa. Marbles and Ada, both now nine years old, were upstairs, still working on the damaged laptop Marbles had been given permission to experiment with three years prior. All three children were in eighth grade, despite Ada and Marbles being fourth grade age and Melissa being sixth grade age.

"I do hope that Mr. Williams will win the election," Melissa said.

"So do we child," Margaret said, "So do we..."

As stated before, any retired government employees from before Abaddon's reign had been stripped of their retirement wages. This, combined with the ridiculously high taxes meant Margaret Lovelace had to switch from part-time computer technician to full-time. She worked all day everyday and was so far behind on payments that Nanny had to end up working for free. Nanny didn't mind this much since she viewed Margaret as family, however she now had to keep the house clean by herself since Margaret was busy working.

Melissa got a part time job babysitting to help Margaret pay her bills. It was a job that she found no trouble in completing due to her nurturing personality. Every child she looked after loved her. It was also easy to find work as a babysitter nowadays because most of the households had both parents working full time six days a week.

"Shush ladies," Nanny said as the two candidates took their places for the debate, "Its about to begin..."

On the television screen, they saw Abaddon and Gerald shake hands, Abaddon glaring at his opponent, and then they went to stand behind their podiums.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After the rules were explained to the two candidates, audience members began asking their questions.

"This question is for Gerald Williams," a woman stated.

"Yes ma'am," the candidate replied.

"If elected, what will you do about the current poverty situation?"

"Well ma'am," Gerald began, "One of the first things I plan on doing is lowering the taxes back down to where they had been during Sir Dalhart's reign as Cyberspace's leader. I also plan on increasing the minimum wage and setting up a new charity organization for the homeless. In addition, I intend on bringing back the retirement wages for retired government employees. I personally find it extremely disgraceful and disrespectful that our current leader is refusing to pay citizens who have dedicated themselves to Cyberspace's well-being."

Gerald shifted his gaze to Abaddon at the last sentence, seeing a glare of death in the older cyborg's blood-red eyes. The debate continued for another two hours, each question leading to an answer that caused more and more cyber-citizens to support Gerald Williams. At the end of the debate, the two candidates were allowed a final chance to explain why they should be elected and their opponent shouldn't.

"My fellow Cyber-citizens," Gerald Williams spoke to the billions watching him both live and on television, "I may be younger than my opponent, but nevertheless, I have reason to believe that the cyborg I am sharing this stage with must be removed from office. In the one year that he has been in charge of Cyberspace, our poverty level has increased by an astonishing thirty percent. In addition, our taxes have been raised by forty-seven percent. Abaddon has claimed on numerous occasions that he's done so for good reason, that the cyber-government needed more money to pay for better defenses, more experienced Cyber-Congress members, e.t.c. However, according to my research, our defense department has in no way improved and only three members, including myself, have been added to the Cyber-Congress. In addition, we have all seen several photos taken by the cyberazzi of Abaddon doing recreational activities. Understandably we all need a break now and again. But, if the money from our taxes is not being spent for necessary things, then where is it going? All the recreational activities Abaddon has been caught participating in have been ones of great expense. Weekly outings to five-star restaurants, several vacations to Solaria at their most well-known and most expensive hotel, a complete remodeling of Control Central's rec room and several costume parties at Castleblanca wearing costumes designed by the top fashion designers in all of Gollywood. To top it all off, Mr. Abaddon here recently purchased a five story summer home in Tikiville, the estimated price of the house being three million snelfus. This may sound like I am assuming things. In fact I myself did my best to overlook these occurrences. That is, until an agent he hired to handle his expenses quit his job, frustrated by all the money our leader was spending. He gave me permission to tell all of you that eighty five percent of the taxes we've been paying have been used to cover the recreational activities I have relayed before you. And I even have with me the documents of his spending history for the past year."

A projection then showed the evidence of Abaddon's spending history. The audience gasped at what they saw.

"I say," Abaddon shouted, "You had no business snooping through my financial history!"

"Silence," the debate holder said to Abaddon, "You may speak when Mr. Williams has finished his say."

"Thank you," Gerald Williams replied. "And as to your statement Abaddon, I was indeed given permission by YOUR former agent to relay this information. No spying was involved, nor was any truly required to bring this to light. And, if I may add, your protest against my relaying these documents leads me to believe that you are acknowledging that this is, indeed, your real documents and not some fake copy made to make you look bad."

Abaddon was going to say something to defend himself, but realized there was nothing he could say. Gerald Williams was right.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to remind everybody," Williams continued, "That we did not elect this cyborg into office. Rather he FORCED his way in by having his rebellion army ruthlessly slaughter several of Sir Dalhart's government officials until the former cyber-ruler surrendered! So not only did Abaddon make death threats. He followed through with them! It was by these uncivilized actions that he made himself our ruler. Is this the type of cyborg we should allow to continue ruling over our world? That choice is up to you my friends. That is all I have to say. Thank you."

The candidate received a loud applause from the audience. After it had died down, Abaddon was asked if he had any final words before the voting began. But the cyborg had been left speechless. Everything his opponent had said was true. There was nothing Abaddon could say to defend himself.

"No," he answered bitterly, "I have nothing to say. Let the voting begin."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at the Lovelace household, Margaret and Nanny took out their cell phones that they could use to text their votes. Both voted for Gerald Williams.

"Do you Mr. Williams will win?" Melissa asked.

"After that speech, I have no doubt he will," Margaret answered.

Nanny looked at the clock above the television. It read 7:13.

"Oh Melissa don't you have to baby-sit the neighbors' toddlers at 7:30?"

"Oh yes. Thank you for reminding me," the eleven-year old said as she got up from the sofa, "I'm going to get some of my fairytale books for them. Nanny, would you mind packing the cookies I baked for them? They should be cooled by now."

"Yes Miss Melissa I will see to it."

Melissa smiled at Nanny, curtsied and went upstairs to her bedroom.

"Melissa really is a wonderful babysitter Nanny," Margaret said as she followed her housemaid into the kitchen, "I don't know what I would do if I didn't have her wages coming in."

"How true," Nanny said as she took a medium sized plastic tub from one of the cabinets, "But hopefully the two of you won't have to keep overworking yourselves much longer."

"Oh how I would love that," Margaret replied, "How I would love that."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, when Melissa, Marbles, and Ada came home from school, they expected the normal routine. They would do their homework, then the two younger children would help Nanny with the housework while Ada's mother worked diligently on her customer's computer problems and Melissa would babysit between 5:00 and 10:00 P.M. But to their surprise, the three children walked into the house to see both Margaret and Nanny casually sitting on the living room sofa watching T.V.

"Mother? Nanny?" Ada asked confusedly, "What are you two doing?"

Margaret turned to the three, a huge smile across her face.

"I am taking the day off," she said.

"But I thought you couldn't afford to take a day off?" Marbles questioned.

"She can now. Gerald Williams has won the election," Nanny replied.

At this, all three children screamed with joy. Ada ran up to her mother and hugged her, whilst Melissa and Marbles danced around in a circle.

"As soon as Mr. Williams is sworn into office," Nanny continued as the three celebrated, "All retired government employees will be receiving the wages they've been deprived of for the past year."

"And I don't have to work full time now," Margaret added, "And Melissa you don't have to babysit tonight. The neighbors are also taking today off."

Melissa suddenly stopped dancing with her brother. She was happy that Gerald Williams had won. However would this mean that she could no longer babysit the various toddlers she had grown so attached to?

"Of course you may continue with your babysitting job if you choose," Margaret said as if reading the eleven-year-old's thoughts, "But, your work will be less now that parents can stay home more often."

Margaret paused, then added, " And you may now keep the income for yourself."

Melissa smiled. She knew exactly what she wanted to do with the money.

"In that case Miss Lovelace," Melissa said, "May I go visit the bookstore once I've finished my homework?"

"Yes dear," Margaret nodded, "I'll leave your wages from last week on the coffee table for you."

"Thank you Miss Lovelace," she replied curtsying.

The three children then went upstairs to do their homework, trying to contain their excitement and relief over the fact that they no longer risked being homeless. Margaret and Nanny continued watching their favorite sitcom.

"Oh Nanny," Margaret said to her housemaid, "Its so wonderful to be able to relax again!"

"Yes Miss Margaret,'' Nanny agreed, "And its nice to know that I can start being paid again soon!"

Margaret shot Nanny a glare and they both burst into laughter.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next week, Gerald Williams was officially sworn into office. It was a day that almost the entire Cyberworld celebrated. Abaddon's reign as leader of Cyberspace would go down in history as the shortest reign ever. It was so short in fact, that most history books would not even put him in the list of Cyberspace's rulers.

But, Abaddon was not ready to back down yet. He already had plans of seeking revenge and getting himself back in office.

_"Its not over yet,"_ he thought to himself as he and his gang of cyber-rebel_s _packed their things and left Control Central, _"I'll get you for this Williams! Somehow, you will pay dearly!_

* * *

Please review! Who would you have voted for?


	15. Chapter 15

NOTE: To get an idea of what Gerald Williams looks like, picture an older version of Ricky/Raviv Ullman from Disney Channel's "Phil of the Future."

And back to the story...

* * *

**~Chapter Fifteen~**

After Abaddon's reign, things were looking down for him and his men. The higher-ups of Tikiville had forced the cyborg to sell his summer home after discovering his crimes against Cyberspace, and he was forbidden to ever return to the site again. Abaddon, General Biff, and the few remaining members of the rebellion group sought refuge in an uninhabited Cybersite that hardly anybody knew existed.

"At least you had control of Cyberspace for one year," General Biff said reassuringly one day, about a month after Gerald Williams' reign had begun.

"But its not enough you fool," Abaddon shouted, causing his right hand man to step back in fear, "I was supposed to be in charge for years. I had it all! Money, power, everything! But that traitor! Had he not spilled to Williams about my spending, I would still be in charge today!"

"I don't know sir," Biff said abnormally timid, "Mr. Williams did still have a lot of things in his favor..."

"SHUT UP!" Abaddon screamed and slapped Biff across the face causing him to fall over, "Don't you EVER say anything like that again! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Yes sir! Yes sir!" Biff said protecting his face from another possible slap.

"Good," Abaddon said calming down, "Now get up."

The General stood up and brushed himself off.

"Are my men ready?" Abaddon asked.

"Yes Sir Abaddon," Biff answered.

"Weapons in place?"

"Yes sir!"

Abaddon nodded. "Send them out then."

Biff saluted his master and left the room to gather together what was left of Abaddon's army.

"You've had your one month Williams," Abaddon said to himself, "Now you will be sorry you ever challenged me!"

Location: Control Central:

It was nearly midnight and everyone had gone to bed, except for two of Gerald Williams' employees.

- In the past, cyber-rulers would have one 'watch guard' hired to stand watch over Control Central from a cock-pit high above the Cybersite every evening until 11:00. The watch guard was meant to keep an eye out for any signs of danger. If signs of danger were seen, the watch guard would press an emergency button within the cock-pit that would sound an alarm system within Control Central, warning the inhabitants to evacuate immediately and/or activate the defense system. Though this level of precautions always seemed to be enough in the past, Gerald Williams felt it necessary to slightly enhance their security. The last time he saw Abaddon, it had been an unfriendly encounter that ended with the tall, red-eyed cyborg threatening revenge on the new ruler. Mr. Williams, therefore, had someone make more advanced binoculars that could see further out and hired two watch guards instead of one. Their names were Mac Clifton and Petunia Crownsbarry (or P.C as everyone called her). Mac would stand guard for the traditional hours, and PC stood guard from 11:00 P.M to sunrise. These were the two cyborgs currently awake.-

Mac was looking through his binoculars for anything out of the ordinary when PC came up from the cock-pit's elevator.

"Your shift is done now Mac," she said as she adjusted her own binoculars, "You can go to sleep now."

"I'm not tired right now," Mac replied, "I'll just stay here and stand guard with you."

"OK," PC nodded as she looked in the opposite direction of her co-worker, "Two heads are better than one after all."

"Or four eyes are better than two," Mac said.

The two laughed at this when suddenly PC saw something through her binoculars.

"Mac," she said, her voice full of concern, "I see a cyber-craft of some sorts. And it doesn't look like a friendly one either."

PC was right. This cyber-craft was a battleship that belonged to Abaddon's small army. They were unaware of the advances in Control Central's security system and thought they couldn't be seen from where they were.

"Oh my circuits!" Mac exclaimed now looking at the same thing his co-worker was seeing, "That's a battleship! Sound the alarm!"

PC violently pushed the emergency button, sounding off the alarm system.

"Code Red," she said into the intercom mic next to the button, "I repeat: Code Red. Prepare defenses."

From the cock-pit, the two watch guards could hear people running and screaming in the main control room as they tried to get the defenses ready for an attack.

In the hallways, the re-hired Richard Stanley ran through the crowds of people hurrying to either evacuate through the emergency hangar bay and/or preparing to fight back at whatever was coming for them. Richard had to get to the supercomputer in the main control room so that he could enter the code needed to ignite the site's built in force field, just in case. After all, they didn't know if the battleship wanted to attack or not.

When he got to the supercomputer, he realized that someone had done something dangerously stupid.

"Who shut down the supercomputer?!" Richard screamed in a combination of frustration and panic.

"I was trying to save power," one of the cyborgs from the defense team yelled from the door as he put on his bullet vest.

"Well next time you're trying to save power, ask me what systems DON'T MAKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH!" he screamed back as he waited for the supercomputer to finish booting.

Location: Abaddon's Battleship:

"General Biff," one of the men said through the communication system on the ship, "We are at destination."

"Excellent men," Biff's voice said through the radio device, "Now launch the attack."

"Yes sir."

Location: Control Central: Look-out Cock-pit:

"They're getting ready to fire at us PC!" Mac shouted.

PC shouted into the intercom, "Danger mode! Activate protective shield!1"

"Its too late!" Mac screamed, "They've fired!"

Mac and PC watched in fear as the missile raced towards Control Central, both praying the shield would be activated in time. Slowly the protective force field began to form. But before it could fully activate, the missile burst through it and into the lower parts of Control Central's main room. The cock-pit shook from the explosion beneath.

"Come on Mac! We have to get down from here. Its not safe!"

The two took the elevator down and rushed inside Control Central.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the main control room everyone was in panic. A huge fire was spreading below the bridge.

"Everyone except for my defense team. Evacuate immediately!" Gerald shouted as the workers rushed to and fro.

"Mr. Williams!" Mac and PC shouted simultaneously as they ran in.

"Go you two," the young ruler ordered, "My defense team will handle it from here."

"No Mr. Williams," Mac stated, "We will help."

The cyborg paused a moment. "Alright. Both of you go with Richard. He's trying to find a way to put out the fire without having to shut down the power. I am going with the defense team in case they come and start shooting."

Mr. Williams you can't!" PC exclaimed, "Its too dangerous!"

"It is my duty," Gerald answered calmly, "When I was sworn into office, not only did I become the ruler of Cyberspace, I became its protector. And part of being the protector of all Cyberspace has always been fighting with Control Central's defense team."

"And if you're killed, how then will you protect Cyberspace?" PC argued.

"That's the risk that all the rulers of our past have taken PC. And some have been killed. But they died trying. And that's what I will do too."

Mac and PC nodded in respect. They knew there was no talking Gerald out of it. For it was true, every past attack on Control Central had the ruler/protector of Cyberspace fighting with the defense team, guarding the facility's important files and other things that, if placed in the wrong hands, could and would result in the end of the cyber-world as its known.

After, Mac and PC had gone off with Richard, Gerald put on his bullet-proof vest and joined the defense team outside. It was a group of fifteen, minus Gerald, and always had been since the very first CC defense team. Gerald and the group stood, fully armed, surrounding all angles of the dome which housed the main control room and the important things contained within it.

But nothing happened...

"Sir," one of the cyborgs said to Gerald Williams, after forty five minutes of waiting.

"Don't call me sir, Steve," Gerald said to the cyborg, "Just call me Gerald."

"Gerald," Steve said, "I think that whoever sent the missile is gone now. It must have just been a scare tactic."

Gerald was silent for awhile, considering the fact that this may be true. He grabbed his Skwak pad and contacted PC.

"PC," Gerald said into the Skwak, "Are you busy right now?"

"No Gerald," she said on the other line, "The fire has just been extinguished."

"Excellent," the ruler said breathing a sigh of relief, "PC, I need you to go back up to the cock-pit and tell us if you still see the battleship."

"Will do Gerald."

The transmission ended and minutes later the watch guard could be seen coming out from the bottom entrance of the main control room and on her way to the cock-pit.

"Its gone everyone," she called from the cock-pit after searching in all directions, "We can tell everyone to come back now."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, all Control Central's workers returned after being informed that the fire was extinguished and the battleship had gone. It would be the first of many attacks on Control Central during Gerald Williams' reign. However, it would be the last to cause such severe damage.

When everyone returned, Mr. Williams held a meeting in the fire-damaged control room.

"I have no solid proof of this," Mr. Williams began, "But I strongly believe that attack was from Abaddon. He has a track record of using explosives."

"What are we going to do?" one cyborg asked.

"We stand our ground that's what we do!" Gerald Williams answered with determination, "I have great respect for Sir Dalhart but the one thing he should've never done was back down. We will up our security system immediately!"

"How?" Mac asked, "We're still recovering from the damage of last night."

"I have sent an order out to the Cyberspace Air Force to come here in their most advanced battleships with their most advanced weaponry. They will protect us until we have fixed the damage done and have come up with tighter security."

"Well how are we gonna tighten the security?" another cyborg asked.

"First off," Gerald began, "I want another glass dome over the control room and all of the platform it stands on. This will make the explosives less fatal, at the very least."

"Is there anything Mac and I can do better?" PC asked.

"No PC," Mr. Williams answered, "The two of you are doing well. However I wish to install a tracking system into the supercomputer, one that can track things from distances much further than the eye can see."

"Something I've been suggesting for how long now?" Richard muttered.

"I do still want the two of you around in the case of a power outage or some other technical difficulty that would cause the tracking system to fail," Gerald continued, "One can never be too careful with a cyborg like Abaddon running around."

"Yes sir," PC answered.

"And must I continue telling everybody this!" Gerald laughed, "Don't call me 'sir' or 'mister.' Just call me Gerald. I am no different than any of you."

So repairs were done on the control room, a second glass dome was built, and a tracking device was installed into the supercomputer. Control Central was now more secure than it had ever been.

Abaddon, as well as any other enemies, would have their work cut out for them in the future...

* * *

1 "Security breech! Danger mode! Activate protective shield!"-Motherboard, Cyberchase episode 509: "On the Line"

I would like to give credit to Kristianja Pantoflii for suggesting to me the name Petunia "PC" Crownsbarry. Thanks girl!

And as always review. Don't be afraid to be completely honest with me ;)


	16. Chapter 16

**~Chapter Sixteen~**

"WOW!" Fourteen-year-old Ada Lovelace said as she and sixteen-year-old Melissa Benson sat down in their college dorm after having unpacked everything, "I can't believe it! We're already in college and have our own place!"

Yes, at just sixteen and fourteen years old respectively, Melissa, Marbles, and Ada were college Freshmen. Having been moved up to eighth grade early, the end result was having their high school diploma in hand early. All three had been accepted into Cyber University, the essential Harvard or Duke of Cyberspace. All three were on full ride scholarships and Melissa and Ada were sharing a dorm. Fourteen-year-old Marbles shared a dorm with another early high school graduate by the name of Archimedes. Melissa was a double major in political science and computer science and Ada was a major in computer science with a minor in composition. Marbles was a major in computer science with a minor in mechanical engineering.

"I am also having trouble believing it," Melissa said as she sprawled out across her bed, "And at the top university in all of Cyberspace!"

"It did take a lot of convincing though for Mother to let us go now, instead of waiting until we were legal adults."

"I don't blame her," Melissa said, "If I had children our age I wouldn't want them around young adults that are out doing who-knows-what."

"Oh for goodness sake Melissa!" Ada exclaimed, "If you and Marbles could handle what you went through at eight and six years old, I think a fourteen-year-old can handle living amongst partying college students."

"Well Marbles has hardly any recollection of our parents or our lives before we moved in with you and Miss Lovelace, so we can't really say much for him."

"He remembers enough to know the things your father taught him," Ada argued, "And you, at least, remember the events quite well."

"I'm older than both of you," Melissa argued back.

"Not by much," Ada stated.

Melissa was silent a moment as she tried to think of something to argue back with, but she had nothing.

"Alright," she sighed, "I suppose we can handle more than others think we can at our age."

Ada smiled at her victory in the argument and went over to her purse.

"So," she said mischievously, "Mother always said that we could change the way we dress once we got out on our own."

"What are you insinuating Ada?" Melissa said sitting back up.

"I'm insinuating that we finally change our wardrobe a little," Ada replied, "I don't know about you, but I find some of these clothes very uncomfortable."

"I suppose petticoats are a bit unbearable during the summer," Melissa agreed.

"How did I know that would be the first thing you complain about?" Ada teased. She knew her friend couldn't stand being hot.

Melissa smirked. "Anyway..."

"I thought I would go shopping at the cyber mall," Ada said, "Care to join me?"

Melissa smiled and nodded.

"Wonderful!" Ada exclaimed, "You get your purse and I will go outside and start the cyber-coupe.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm so sorry for your loss Marbles," fifteen-year-old Archimedes said after Marbles explained everything that happened to him and his sister before they moved in with the Lovelaces.

"Thank you Archimedes," Marbles replied, "But you need not be. My memories are faded and most of what I just told you is from Melissa's and Margaret Lovelaces' accounts. It doesn't have as much of an emotional impact on me as it does my sister."

Archimedes nodded politely. "Then my condolences go to her."

Marbles smiled and continued. "What I do remember about our father is that he knew a great deal about computers and taught me to install a firewall at just six years old. When he and our mother died, Melissa became a sort of maternal figure to me. She became engrossed in politics and history, trying to discover any sort of idea as to how our parents' deaths could have been prevented. And we both began to do more research into computer technology. We want to prevent something like that from ever happening to anyone else."

"She seems like a very sweet gal," Archimedes replied in his Irish accent.

"Yes," Marbles agreed, "But sometimes she can be a bit too much of a mother, to anyone close to her. A few months ago, Ada got the flu. Melissa actually missed school one day just to stay home and take care of her."

Archimedes laughed. "Ain't that sweet!"

"Too sweet!" Marbles exclaimed. "And I have a feeling she's going to be doing this even more now that we're in college, without Ada's mother."

"Well she just wants to protect you," Archimedes reasoned with his new friend, "I'd imagine after someone watches their mum die for them, they can never quite get over it. You're the only family she has left Marbles. And then Ada is her best friend. She doesn't want to lose you two either."

"I... never thought about it that way," Marbles said quietly.

Archimedes gave him a small smile. The two remained silent for a while.

"So tell me Archimedes," Marbles said after a few moments of this awkward silence, "What is Poddleville like?"

"Oh, 'tis a very nice place me friend," Archimedes said about his home site, "All the houses are built like perfect shapes and all of us poddles look like a specific shape as well."

"A very geometrical Cybersite," Marbles said.

"Indeed!" Archimedes agreed, "Though sometimes it feels a bit too cramped. I am hoping after college I can go move to some uninhabited Cybersite and just run experiments there. All day."

"That sounds very nice," Marbles replied, "What do you think you would name the site?"

The young chemistry/mechanical engineering major sat in contemplation over the question.

"I don't know lad," he finally answered, "I simply don't know."

"Well I'm certain you'll figure it out when the time comes," Marbles assured him.

"I suppose."

Marbles opened his last suitcase of clothing and began to neatly hang the clothes in the closet. As he did, he talked about one of the things that happened during his and Melissa's childhood plight with Abaddon's army.

"So apparently when Control Central's chief technician located the Skwak pads Melissa and I had lost the night we were chased, he found Melissa's in one of the piles of dust with the laser pointer still ignited. According to Melissa, he had said the dust was portal dust and that it was the energy from the laser that caused the portal to form. In short, Melissa has apparently discov..."

"EUREEKA!" Archimedes suddenly exclaimed, surprising Marbles and interrupting story.

"What?"

"That's what I will name my Cybersite. Eureeka."

"Interesting," Marbles said, a little ticked off at his roommate for interrupting him so randomly.

"I'm sorry Marbles," Archimedes said, embarrassed by his outburst, "Please continue."

Marbles nodded. "As I was saying, according to this cyborg, I believe his name was... Richard, Melissa has discovered a way to make portals. Ever since Melissa was told this, she has been anxious to go back to that cave and collect some of the dust to experiment with. She wants to find a way to make remote-controlled portals1 and even program computers to make them. She believes it would be a great benefit to the Cyber-government."

"I have to agree with her," Archimedes said, "With all the revenge attacks that Abaddon had made on Control Central a few years ago, who knows what could've happened if something went wrong with the security. With a portal they could evacuate much sooner."

"That's exactly what Melissa said. 'In any case of an emergency, a portal could be used to quickly evacuate,'" Marbles said, impersonating his sister's voice.

"Well 'tis true," Archimedes reasoned, "Just think what would have happened to you two if it weren't for that portal."

"We would both be dead," Marbles replied, his voice filling with sadness, "Nothing but data floating in the cyber-constellations."

"Well not necessarily," the pyramid-shaped cyborg said, "I personally believe there is life after death."

Marbles smirked. "Maybe for those real world citizens called humans, but I don't know about cyborgs. We're just the collection of data that somehow turned into life over time."

"Don't be so sure of that," Archimedes said, "If we can think and feel like humans can, we must have souls."

"That's what Melissa and Ada say," Marbles laughed.

"Something tells me I would get along well with your sister and girlfriend."

"I told you Archimedes," Marbles said blushing, "We aren't dating yet."

"Well just when do you plan on asking her?"

"I don't know," the fourteen-year-old freshmen sighed, "Meeting the Lovelaces is the earliest childhood memory that I can recall every last detail of."

"So she's very important to you?"

"In a word, yes."

Archimedes tried to think of romantic ways that a guy could ask a girl to be a couple.

"Perhaps, when Valentine's Day comes around..."

"But that's months from now," Marbles groaned.

"You've waited this long already," Archimedes pointed out, "Besides, I think all of us will want to be spending the first few months of college adjusting. Not getting romantically involved with others."

"Well... Alright. I will wait."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oh Melissa! You look beautiful!" Ada exclaimed as her friend walked out of the changing room in a turquoise dress that went to her knees, "That color goes wonderful with your hair!"

Melissa twirled around in her dress. As much as she loved the fairytale look of the 1800s clothing she had been wearing for so long, it felt so nice to wear something of lighter material. She looked at herself in the mirror. The dress truly did go well with her long blue hair and the frilled spaghetti strap sleeves accented her thin arms.

"I have just enough 'personal' snelfus left to buy this. Do you think I should save it for something more important?" she asked somewhat sadly.

"What could be more important than that dress?" Ada asked.

"You're right," Melissa laughed, "I'll take it."

As the two teenagers left the mall, they talked about all sorts of girly stuff. Finally the topic of boys came up.

"Melissa," Ada said sheepishly as they got in the cyber-coupe, "Do you promise to keep this a secret?

"My lips are sealed," Melissa said as she started the cyber coupe and they flew back to the school.

"I..."

"Yes Ada?"

Ada took a deep breath. "I'm in love with your brother."

"I know," Melissa said smiling.

"Is it that obvious?" Ada asked.

"I don't believe Marbles has noticed it yet," Melissa said, "But I've noticed it since the three of us first met."

Melissa knew that Marbles liked Ada back, but he had sworn her to secrecy also. She wished she could just tell Ada.

"It was just a childhood crush back then," Ada explained, "But as we've grown its become more than that."

"I think the two of you would make a fine pair Ada. All you have to do is tell him how you feel."

"Are you out of your circuits Melissa?!" Ada exclaimed, "If he doesn't like me too it could ruin our entire friendship.

"Don't say things like that Ada," Melissa said trying desperately not to let her brother's secret out, "I know my brother well. He wouldn't stop being your friend just because you like him, especially when we've been friends this long."

"But it would certainly make things awkward forever more," the fourteen-year-old sighed.

"I would disagree," Melissa replied, "But let's not worry about relationships at the moment. We're going to be very busy with college. We have our whole lives for romance."

Ada sighed again. "I suppose you're right." She then decided to change the subject.

"So," she began, "I hear they found out where Abaddon's secret hideaway was this whole time.

"And?" Melissa asked as she turned left in the cyber-sky.

"Half of the army had left has been killed," Ada said, "There are only ten left, including himself."

"Well that's good," Melissa said, "He'll only be half the threat now."

"But unfortunately the rest of them got away," Ada continued, "But then Abaddon apparently sent a cyber-mail to Gerald Williams saying that he has completely given up all attempts of taking over Cyberspace again."

"Are you serious?!" Melissa exclaimed, temporarily taking her eyes off of where she was flying.

"I am serious!" Ada said, "It seems none of us will ever have to worry about him again."

When the two girls to back to their dorms, Melissa turned on the news to see if Ada was right. And it turned out she was.

"I don't believe it," Melissa said, tears of joy streaming from her blue eyes, "Its almost over!"

"Now you and Marbles don't have to live in secrecy anymore," Ada said as tears started forming in her own green eyes.

"I know," Melissa said as she took out her handkerchief and wiped her eyes, "But it never hurts to be safe."

"Oh Melissa!" Ada said, "You two have had to play it safe your whole lives! You've never even been to R-Fair City!"

"I'm not saying that we have to hide ourselves," Melissa said, "You know very well that if my portal experiments go the way I intend them to there'll be no way for me to avoid the public eye. I'm simply going to go under another name."

"Like?" Ada asked.

"Like a name that Abaddon wouldn't recognize. Something that doesn't end with Benson."

"Well have you told Marbles this?" Ada asked, "Surely if this makes you really famous, they'll want to know more about you. That means who your family is too."

"First off," Melissa began, "I don't think I'll be THAT famous for it. And secondly, Marbles will be going under a new name after he gets his doctorate. He plans to go by Dr. Marbles and leave out his surname until its safe to do otherwise. He said this in front of you."

"Oh that's right," Ada said, remembering the time he said that, "Still do you two really think that Abaddon would be after the two of you just because your parents foiled his plans."

"According to Mr. Stanley yes," Melissa answered, "He says that when Abaddon kills someone who is as big a threat to his plans as my parents were, he will take out any relatives that could potentially have the same traits. There were others like my parents. He had his men take all of them out as well as their immediate family. Sir Dalhart said that until Abaddon is gone from our world, we're never completely safe."

"I see..." Ada said quietly. "So what name are you going to go under?" she asked slightly changing the subject.

"I told you Ada. I don't know yet," Melissa answered, annoyed.

"Alright," Ada said as she went to her desk to write her poetry.

With Ada absorbed in her writing, Melissa decided to do some reading.

_"A new name," _she thought as she took out her book, _"There's so many names out there. How could I ever choose?..._

* * *

1: Remote controlled portals. First seen in episode 203 "Harriet Hippo and the Mean Green."

Please review! This was a tough one.


	17. Chapter 17

**~Chapter Seventeen~**

"My goodness Marbles!" Archimedes exclaimed as he and his roomate were getting ready for the first day of classes, "You dress so well. Like yer goin' for a job interview."

"Like I said Archimedes," Marbles replied as he buttoned his vest, "Margaret Lovelace had all three of us dressing like we're from 1835."

"Well 'tis a very professional look," Archimedes said as he got his book bag, "So you ready to introduce me to the girls?"

"Yes," Marbles answered as he also got his book bag and the two of them headed to the girls' dorm building.

-Cyber University is the biggest college in all of Cyberspace, so big that its campus takes up the entire cybersite. Everything on the site, aside from a gas station and a nail salon, is owned by the school. Of course, the vastness of the campus could cause potential problems for students, as far as finding classes goes. For this, the owners of the university separated the campus into six 'semi-campuses': freshmen campus, sophomore campus, junior campus, senior campus, graduate school, and academically gifted. This last semi-campus was for underage students like Ada, Archimedes, and the Bensons to separate them from older students that could potentially be a bad influence on them. It was the smallest semi-campus and its occupants remained learning there until they were eighteen.-

Marbles and Archimedes walked up to the second floor, where Ada and Melissa resided. Marbles knocked on the door.

"Coming," Ada called from inside the dorm.

When the door opened, Marbles expected to see Ada in one of her beautiful floor length dresses with several petticoats, which he had always thought made her look like an elegant princess. His jaw dropped when he instead saw his friend in a red and white polka dot, spaghetti strap dress that came down to her knees with white high heeled flip flops. In her left hand was her favorite fan, in her right hand her purse, and over her right shoulder was her book bag.

"Ada?!" Marbles asked, shocked at the sudden change of fashion, "Is that you?"

"It is Marbles," Ada said blushing, "You're sister and I decided to change up our wardobe a bit, since we're on our own now."

"Y-you l-l-look..." Marbles stuttered stunned by her beauty (though he already thought her gorgeous), "... beautiful."

Ada smiled and curtsied. Archimedes nudged Marbles discreetly, reminding him that he had not yet introduced them to eachother.

"Oh," Marbles said, "Ada this is my roomate Archimedes. Archimedes, this is my long-time friend Ada."

"Pleased to meet you Ada," Archimedes said shaking her hand while she curtsied, again.

"It is a pleasure to make your aquaintance as well," the girl said in her most polite manner.

"Ada where is my sister?" Marbles asked.

"Melissa," Ada called into the dorm, "Your brother is here."

Melissa came to the doorway with her book bag slung over one shoulder and her small purse in her hands. She wore the same turquiose dress that she had spent her last 'personal' snelfus on and had an identical pair of Ada's heels on.

"Good morning Marbles," she said to her brother. She then noticed Archimedes. "Well are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Of course," the fourteen-year-old answered, "This is my roomate Archimedes. He is from Poddleville and is a double major in chemistry and mechanical engineering. Archimedes this is my older sister, Melissa."

Melissa, like Ada, curtsied gracefully. "It is a pleasure to meet you Archimedes."

"Same here Melissa. Marbles has told me a great deal about both of you ladies."

The two girls giggled shyly.

"Oh he did, did he?" Melissa said glancing at her younger brother who only smirked at her.

"Well isn't that sweet," Ada said smiling nervously at her crush whilst covering half her face with her fan, "I hope he said nice things about us."

"Oh yes," Archimedes replied, "Not one bad word."

Marbles gave Archimedes the 'please stop' look and Archimedes changed the subject.

"So what do you ladies have first today?" Archimedes asked, even though he already knew that the four of them shared their first class together.

"Advanced Calculus," Ada and Melissa said simultaneously.

"Ah same as us," Archimedes said.

"And we best be on our way there," Marbles added looking at his watch, "Class starts in fifteen minutes."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_"As I look at the clouds above_

_I think about my one true love_

_As the sun sets and brings the night_

_I remember how I fell in love at first sight."_

It was 7:00 PM at Cyber University and the first day of classes was done for Ada Lovelace. Having already finished all her homework, she now sat near one of the campus water fountains, watching the sun set as she wrote yet another poem.

_"Handsome he was, handsome he is_

_But will there be a day when I become his?"_

Ada had seen so many beautiful girls in several of the classes she shared with Marbles. She was sure that her dear Marbles would fall for at least one of them.

_"Life is changing everyday_

_Tomorrow someone could come his way_

_And take my Marbles far away."_

Ada closed her poetry book, not wanting to dwell on her insecurities any longer. She closed her eyes tightly and let a few tears fall as she thought about the possibility of him falling in love with another girl, after they had known each other for so many years.

_"But perhaps that's the problem,"_ she thought to herself, _"All he sees me as is a close friend, nothing more. He loves me, but he isn't IN love with me."_

As she thought about this, she felt a hand come on top of hers. She opened her eyes and turned to see Marbles sitting next to her.

"Marbles!" she said, surprised that he was there, "I didn't hear you coming."

"You were too wrapped up in your poem," he said as she tried to pat her eyes dry, "And this whole time, I was afraid someone would take YOU far away."

Ada's eyes widened. _"He saw the poem? He's been here that long and I never noticed?"_

Yes. He had been there nearly the whole time.

"Marbles," the young blonde girl said nervously, "I...I...I have to tell you something."

"So do I Ada," Marbles said just as nervous.

"You first."

"I...I was going to wait," Marbles said, "But after... accidently reading your poem, I have to tell you now." He took a deep breath. "Ada I...I love you."

Ada's eyes filled with tears again, but this time they were tears of joy.

"Oh Marbles," she said choking her words, "I love you too... And you're not just saying this now because I changed the way I look?"

Marbles was shocked at this question. "Not at all Ada! I love you whether your in modern day clothes or old fashioned clothes. It doesn't matter to me! I've loved you for so long Ada," he said, "And there isn't a single woman in all of Cyberspace that could EVER compete with you."

The fourteen-year-old girl smiled with relief and happiness. Marbles was also beyond relieved as he wiped his lover's tears dry with the back of his hand. The two then gazed into each other's eyes and, as if played out in the perfect romance film, the two leaned in and kissed as the sun was still setting and the water fell from the water fountain before them.

Melissa had just gotten out of her history class and was walking by the fountain when she saw the two kiss, stopping her in her tracks. She smiled to herself as she continued walking back to her dorm.

_"Its about time."_

* * *

Please review!


	18. Chapter 18

**~Chapter Eighteen~**

Marbles Benson felt like he was walking on air as he went back to his dorm. Ada liked him! She really liked him! And she had liked him longer than he had even liked her! Since the day they met in fact! And now they had just kissed.

Marbles walked into his dorm room and shut the door. He let out a contented sigh and slid down against the door in a dreamlike state, not even noticing his roommate staring at him with wide eyes.

"Marbles," Archimedes said snapping the fourteen-year-old back into reality, "What in the cyber-world happened to you?"

"Ada loves me," he said in the most love-sick voice one can have, "She told me. We kissed."

Archimedes smiled and nodded. "That's great news lad. I'm very happy for the both of you!"

"This is the greatest day of my life," Marbles said still half in a dream, "Nothing can possibly ruin this day."

"Did you finish chapter two of the Advanced Calculus workbook?" Archimedes interrupted.

Marbles love-struck expression suddenly turned into one of dread.

"I'll take that as a no," Archimedes said, reading the expression on his roommate's face.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ada Lovelace glided to her dorm room in a dream-like state. When she opened the door, she saw Melissa standing at the entrance with a big smile spread across her face.

"Melissa!" the girl said excitedly as she closed the door, "You are never going to believe..."

"I know Ada," Melissa interrupted, "I just happened to be walking by when the two of you kissed."

Ada blushed slightly.

"Well," Melissa continued, "Aren't you going to tell me how this came together?"

The two sat on Melissa's bed as Ada told her everything that had happened. It was the typical teenaged girls conversation, complete with over-excited squeals and fast talking.

"I'm so glad you two are finally together," Melissa said as their conversation came to an end, "It should have happened eons ago!"

"Nothing could ruin this day Melissa," Ada sighed as she got up from the bed to go change into her pajamas.

"Not even that you have an 8:00 A.M class tomorrow?"

"Not even that," Ada answered, though she did wish she didn't have to be up so early tomorrow.

"Alright if you say so," Melissa replied, knowing that her friend would probably be complaining when the alarm wakes her up at 6:15 the next day. (Ada took forever to get ready!)

"So exactly what have you been doing since I was out there?" Ada asked as she walked out from behind the changing wall, "I know you were almost done with our data structures homework before I left."

"I finished it about five minutes after you left," Melissa answered as she got up and went over to her computer, "Between then and my history class I've been reading my copy of the _World Almanac_."

"Again?" Ada asked.

"Yes again," Melissa answered, "Its my favorite book. You know that."

"I thought _Encyclopedia Brittanica_ was your favorite," Ada replied.

"Oh yes," Melissa said remembering that book, "They're both my favorite books."

"I don't know how on earth you remember every last detail in those books," Ada said, "They're so long."

"You have the ability too Ada," Melissa argued, "If not more. You and my brother were in eighth grade when you should have been in fourth grade, while I was in eighth grade when I should have been in sixth grade."

"On the contrary my dear friend. The school principal had recommended you go up to eleventh grade. But you wanted to be in the same classes as us," Ada reminded her.

Melissa smiled. This was true.

"So," Melissa said changing the subject back to Ada's recent romance success, "Have you and Marbles actually decided where you'll be going for your first date this Saturday."

"Not yet," Ada answered as she picked up a poetry magazine, "I was thinking, though, that I would like to go see a play they're having in Happily-Ever-After-Ville. They're doing it on Rapunzel. Or we could go to Aquarium for a submarine tour of the site. Which would you choose?"

"Well," Melissa began, "Knowing my brother, he'd most likely prefer going to Aquarium. But I personally would choose the play. Especially for a fairytale as romantic as Rapunzel."

"I suppose Marbles and I can discuss it tomorrow," Ada said as she turned the page in her magazine. Then, out of mere curiosity, she asked, "And what are you going to do this weekend?"

"I'm finally going to revisit that cave in the Forever Forest back at my home site," Melissa answered.

"You mean the one with the portal dust?"

"No the one with the pack of cyber-wolves," Melissa said sarcastically.

The girls were silent for about five seconds, and then laughed at Melissa's sarcasm.

"Of course the cave with the portal dust," Melissa continued, "Something else I've been thinking about with these portals, after I've tried to find a way to make remote controlled portals, and after I've found a way to program computers to make portals, I have one last thing I'd like to experiment it on..."

"Well?" Ada said, waiting for he answer.

"I'm wondering," Melissa said, nervous that her idea would sound stupid, "I'm wondering if its at all possible to open a portal connecting Cyberspace with the real world."

Ada's eyes widened. "That'd be amazing Melissa! But, we're already able to obtain information from the real world just merely by Cyberspace being the result of years worth of Earth data forming into life. What else could we possibly need?"

"Well you never know if our world could be put in a situation where we would require the assistance of the real world's citizens. And besides, I would like to step into that dimension, if only for a split second."

"But what if someone sees you?" Ada argued.

"If I can control the portals correctly," Melissa said, "Then I can pick a place where nobody will see me."

"Well... if you're absolutely sure of this..." Ada said, uneasy about her friend's idea.

"Like I have been saying for years," Melissa replied, "I must first find out how much energy is needed to create a portal and then work from there to determine how I may use the portal to go to a specific location."

Ada nodded in agreement when she thought of something.

"You know," she began, "Neither you nor Marbles ever told me what the portal vortex was like..."

"Well, Marbles doesn't remember the portal ride at all," Melissa said, "And I passed out upon landing in Control Central. However I was conscious while we were in the vortex. I remember that we seemed to have been travelling at the speed of light. We were flipping over several times in the vortex just from the immense gravitational pull of it. There were all sorts of numbers and data floating around within it. It was scary, since we had no idea where exactly we would end up. But at the same time it was... incredible."

"Wow," Ada said, "Well you better figure out the portal controlling formula quick. I want to ride one!"

Melissa laughed. "I'll do my best Ada."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Marbles, I thought you already finished yer homework," Archimedes said as he watched his roommate pour over a text book on product design.

"I did finish. I even did an extra chapter of the advanced calculus workbook," Marbles said looking up from his book for a moment, "I'm just reading this to see if it will help me with a project I've been working on."

"You mean that old coffee-damaged computer Ada's mother couldn't fix?"

"Not that one at the moment," Marbles answered, turning a page of his textbook.

"Well you haven't told me of any other projects."

"Its not something I spend nearly as much time on, that's why," Marbles replied.

"Well what is it?" Archimedes asked.

"Do you remember the CC communication device I was telling you about?" Marbles asked.

"Ah yes!" Archimedes answered, "Skwak Pads they were called right?"

"Yes," Marbles answered, "I was analyzing them over the summer and based on my observations, along with what Melissa has told me about... that night, I've come to the conclusion that the device could use some improvement. I would like to invent an updated version that has a better signal and possibly downsize it to one cyber-foot in length, as opposed to the original one and half cyber-feet design."

"I see," Archimedes said, "Do you think you'll show the updated version to Mr. Williams if its a success?"

"Absolutely," Marbles answered, "The more I can do to improve our society, the better."

Archimedes laughed. "Determined are we?"

"Well," Marbles said, "I may not remember what happened that night. But what I do know is that my real parents aren't here right now and had it not been for that portal, Melissa and I would not be alive right now. Until she has figured out the method to controlling portals, the cyber-government will have to stick with communicating during emergencies, meaning they need to be able to communicate from any point. So they must be able to have a better signal."

"Then I wish you luck with your design lad," the pyramid-shaped cyborg said.

"Thank you Archimedes."

"Say Marbles?" Archimedes asked.

"Yes?"

"Have you thought about where yer going to take Ada this Saturday?" Archimedes asked.

"I have," Marbles answered, "The recent news is that Happily-Ever-After-Ville is putting on a play of Rapunzel, one of Ada's favorite fairytales. I'm going to ask her tomorrow if she wants to go."

"Sounds good lad," Archimedes said, "Say do you think you could help me with this Calculus problem for a moment?"

Marbles got up from his desk and went to Archimedes' desk.

"Which one?" he asked.

* * *

Another filler chapter. Please review!


	19. Chapter 19

**~Chapter Nineteen~**

For Marbles and Ada, Saturday could not come fast enough. They had agreed on seeing the play in Happily-Ever-After-Ville and drove their roommates nearly insane from the constant lovesick chatter. But the day finally came for their romantic first date.

Marbles knocked on Melissa and Ada's door at around 10:00 A.M. She answered the door in a long cream-colored gown she had brought from home and had her hair in a half up-do.

"Good morning my lady," he said addressing her with one of the pet names she'd been given.

"Good morning my dear Marbles," Ada said curtsying.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"I am," she answered, "Just let me get my purse and we'll be off."

"Good morning Marbles," Melissa called from her study desk, "You look very nice today."

"Thank you Melissa," Marbles said to his sister.

"Alright I'm ready," Ada said as she came to the door with her purse.

"You two be careful alright?" Melissa warned as they got ready to go.

"Yes Melissa," Ada answered.

"Marbles," the sixteen-year-old said addressing her brother, "Make sure the cyber-coupe has enough fuel to last you the ride there and back."

"Yes sister," he answered.

"And wear your seatbelts."

"We know Melissa," Ada answered.

"And drive carefully Marbles?"

"Yes," Marbles said impatiently, "Now can we please go? Mother?"

Melissa smirked at the comment. "I'm just looking out for you. Go ahead you lovebirds. Have fun."

"Bye Melissa," they said as they left.

"'Now can we please go Mother?'" Melissa said mimicking her brother, "I'm not really that over-protective, am I?"

She opened her locket and looked at the picture of their real mother.

"Well someone has to that job right?" Melissa asked Eileen's picture as if her mother would answer back, "I promised I would look out for him. Now that you're gone."

The girl close her locket and took a large bag out from under her desk. The afternoon before, Melissa had gone to Forever Forest and collected as much of the portal dust as she could into the bag.

"Alright first things first," she said to herself, "According to my calculations, the laser pointer on the Skwak Pad generates fifty cyber-watts of energy. So I'll need at least that much to activate a portal."

Melissa moved all the school stuff off her desk and replaced it with a small experimenting model that consisted of several wires connecting light to a small metal bowl which she placed a handful of the dust in. She adjusted the light to fifty watts and stood back. She watched as the dust began to glow and form into a swirling portal.

"It worked," she whispered in awe, "But now the question is how I can set it to a specific location."

Melissa grabbed her purse, which currently contained only portal dust and her Skwak Pad and moved closer to the portal, but not close enough to get sucked in.

_"Maybe all I need to do is tell the portal where I want to go," _she thought.

"Portal," she said feeling rather stupid, "Send me to Cybersite The Forest."

_"Here goes nothing,"_ she thought as she jumped in.

Melissa had almost forgotten the feeling of the vortex. It was much faster than she remembered and she flipped over several times. But the visual surroundings were exactly as she remembered. Within seconds she fell out of the portal and landed face first, again, on the ground of The Forest. The sixteen-year-old groaned as she got up and looked around, then gasped when she realized where she was.

"I don't believe it!" she said, "All I had to do was tell it where I wanted to go and brought me here."

Melissa was glad to see that this part of her experiment had been a success. She couldn't wait to tell Marbles, Ada, and Archimedes. But she still had three other tests to run with the portals. Still, the teenager couldn't leave the Cybersite without reliving one of her childhood past times. The girl found a tall tree with blue leaves and started climbing up to the very top branches.

"I'm amazed that I can still climb as fast as I could six years ago," Melissa said to herself as she sat on one of the high branches, "Now if I had only brought my book with me, it would be just like old times."

"What old times?" a voice asked her.

Melissa turned around to see a small yellow cyboid behind her.

"Oh hello," Melissa said waving to the cyboid, "I'm sorry. Am I interrupting anything?"

"Not at all miss," the cyboid said coming closer to her on the branch and holding out a wing, "My name is Bill."

"Melissa," the girl said shaking Bill's wing.

"I saw you come in through the portal and I wanted to make sure you were alright," the cyboid continued, "I've always wanted to see a portal, but they're so rare ya know?"

"They may not be for very long," Melissa explained, "You see, I made that portal."

"You did?!" Bill exclaimed, "But I thought..."

"Yes they have only been known to be caused by nature," Melissa interrupted, "But years ago I accidently stumbled upon a cave full of portal dust and accidently made a portal. From that, I calculated that fifty watts of power were needed to activate the dust into a portal. I just ran the experiment today and that's how I ended up here."

"How will you get back to where you came from?" Bill asked.

"I have more portal dust in my purse," she said showing Bill the purse she had kept in the pocket of her day dress while she climbed up the tree.

"Wow!"

Melissa smiled and put the purse back in her pocket.

"So is that the 'old times' you were referring to?" the curious cyboid asked.

"No," Melissa answered, "I meant how I used to climb trees for fun when I was little. Sometimes I would climb them as part of a game, but after my seventh b-day I mostly just read the book I had gotten while sitting on the branches."

The girl's smile widened as she thought back to that day.

Flashback:

Seven year old Melissa Benson climbed quickly up one of the trees in Forever Forest, Pompadoria with a pair of black binoculars hanging around her neck. She got about midway up the trunk and climbed to one of the branches on the left.

"Melissa Benson, codename M.B," Melissa spoke in a spy-like manner as she used her binoculars to look around the forest, "Mission, protect Cyberspace from all evil."

She then positioned her hand so that it looked as if she were holding a communication device.

"So far I see nothing sir," she said as she continued looking around with the binoculars and shifted her gaze towards the river, "Nobody is trying to steal the power supply at the moment. I'll continue to stand guard here and take action if I see anything suspicious... Yes of course I'll notify you immediately."

"And it looks like Eileen Benson, codename E.B, has accomplished her mission of finding the b-day girl."

Melissa turned to see her mother on standing next to the tree. She swung herself over so that she was hanging from her branch like a possum.

"Hi mom," she said as her blue pigtails dangled from her head.

"Happy b-day sweetheart," Eileen said, "I'm afraid you will have to come down from there if you want your present."

"Sir," Melissa said holding one of her hands into the previously-stated position again, "I believe my mission here is com...Aahhh..."

Melissa had lost her grip and fell off the branch. Eileen dropped the gift and caught Melissa in her arms.

"Thanks Mom."

"You can NOT hang from the branches like that, understood?" Eileen said. Melissa nodded yes as her mother placed her on the ground. "I'm not always gonna be there to catch you, so you'll have to learn to land right."

"Yes Mom," the seven-year-old muttered.

"Now," Eileen said picking up the wrapped package she had dropped, "Open it up, darling."

Melissa opened the gift. It was a copy of the _World Almanac_, something she had been begging for all year.

"Oh Mom! Thank you!" the little girl said hugging Eileen tightly, "I'll keep it forever!"

"Your welcome Melissa," Eileen said returning the hug, "Happy b-day. I love you!"

"I love you too Mom!"

End Flashback:

"Ever since then I would read the book while sitting on the tree branches," Melissa explained, "But when my brother and I moved, our new caretaker forbid tree-climbing. So I haven't done this for a while."

"New caretaker?" Bill asked confused.

Melissa took a deep breath while looking down at her feet. "My parents are dead," she replied quietly, solemnly.

"Oh," Bill said even quieter, embarrassed that he brought up such a sensitive topic, "I'm so sorry."

"Its a long story," she said, shuddering at the memory, "I keep this locket with their pictures on each side."

She opened her locket and showed Bill the photos of Clyde and Eileen.

"You have your mother's eyes," the cyboid said sweetly.

"Thank you," Melissa said smiling. She had always thought her mother was the most beautiful cyborg in all of Cyberspace.

"She used to sing me to sleep at night," Melissa said, becoming quiet again, "Sometimes, I can still hear her voice."1

The teenager's eyes began to water. It had been so long ago, but she still remembered them well. Bill perched on Melissa's shoulder and nuzzled her consolingly.

"What's your new caretaker like?" Bill asked.

"She's wonderful," Melissa said, beginning to smile again, "She was friends with my father and says that my brother is just like him."

Melissa and Bill continues talking for hours, quickly becoming great friends. But soon Melissa realized that she had been there too long and had to get back to her work.

"I'm afraid I have to go back now," Melissa said sadly as she jumped from her branch down to a lower branch, continuing the process until she was on the ground.

"Come back and visit anytime," Bill said following her.

"I will," Melissa said curtsying, "It was lovely to meet you."

Melissa took a handful of portal dust from her purse and placed it on the ground as she activated the laser pointer on her Skwak. Within seconds of it hitting the dust, another portal formed and sucked her in immediately.

"Incredible," Bill said watching the portal close.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Marbles and Ada parked the cyber-coupe and took a seat up front at the small outdoor community theater in Happily-Ever-After-Ville.

"Isn't it a beautiful day Marbles?" Ada said as she looked up at the clear sky.

"It is my lady," Marbles replied, "But not nearly as beautiful as you are."

Ada blushed and covered her face with her fan. "You are too sweet my dear Marbles."

Just then Cinderella the third came onto the stage to introduce the play.

"Thank you for attending our production of Rapunzel," the fairytale-based cyborg said, "We ask that you turn off all cellular devices during the performance. No cameras or flash photography is allowed. Please enjoy the show."

The play lasted about an hour and a half and included song and dance. There were several times where the couple would exchange loving glances, thrilled that they were finally together. Once it was over, the two headed back to Cyber University.

"It was so romantic wasn't it?" Ada said as Marbles drove through the sky.

"It was indeed Ada," he said smiling.

"I absolutely adored Rapunzel's singing voice," Ada continued.

"Yes," her boyfriend agreed, "She has quite a range."

The two were then silent for a while, not really knowing what else to say.

"What shall we do now Marbles?"

Marbles thought for a moment.

"Do you want to continue with trying to fix that old laptop?" he asked.

Ada laughed. "My dear Marbles! We've been trying to fix that old thing for eons! Are you sure you want to continue with it?"

"I'm positive Ada," the young cyborg answered, "I believe that I'm very close to finding a solution.

"You've been saying that since you first started working on it Marbles," Ada pointed out, "But yes I would love to help you with the project."

"Then we shall go up to my dorm immediately," Marbles said as he parked the cyber-coupe behind his dorm building.

The two went upstairs and into Marbles' and Archimedes' dorm room. On Marbles' study desk was the now eights years retired laptop.

"Where is Archimedes?" Ada asked noticing the room was empty.

"He told me he was spending the day in the library. He wants to research more on the real world Archimedes."

"So then he's a cyber-alternate as well?" Ada asked.

"No," Marbles answered, "He was just named after the man."

"Oh... Well let's get to this project...again."

Marbles really was close to finding a way to fix the laptop. He had, over the past eight years, read every book about computers that he could get his hands on, and this past Thursday, he read his text book to find the very last thing he needed to come up with a method that would undo the hot liquid damage. Within an hour of tweaking and repairing, Marbles and Ada were able to use their knowledge and their theories to finally fix the laptop and have it running as if there never had been a spill at all.

"You did it Marbles!" Ada exclaimed, "You've finally found a way to fix hot liquid damage!"

"I didn't do it Ada," Marbles said smiling, "We did it. I couldn't have gotten this far without you."

Ada smiled and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek. "Thank you old chum."

* * *

1: "She used to sing to me. Sometimes I try to hear her voice, but it just slips away."-Samantha Parkington _Samantha: An American Girl Holiday_.

Phew! That was a long one. Please review. Don't be afraid to be completely honest. I'd rather know if it stinks than continue writing more like it without knowing it stinks. Haha! :)


	20. Chapter 20

**~Chapter Twenty~**

Ada opened the door to her dorm room and saw Melissa at her desk, putting together some sort of device.

"Melissa," Ada said catching the older cyborg's attention, "You'll never believe what just happened!"

"What?" Melissa asked, stopping what she was doing for a moment.

"Marbles fixed the laptop!" Ada exclaimed.

"Marbles fixed the laptop?!" Melissa knew exactly which laptop her friend was talking about.

"Yes!" Ada said, her green eye gleaming with joy, "He insists that I helped him but it was Marbles who was truly responsible."

"Well what does my brother plan on doing with it?"

"Selling it of course," Ada answered, "All three of us have our own laptops so what would be the point in keeping it?"

Melissa contemplated a moment. "True."

"And what about you?" Ada asked, "How are your portal experiments coming along?"

Melissa smiled. "Part one is finished. I have confirmed that at least fifty cyber-watts of power are needed to activate the portals. And you'll never believe what you have to do to get to a set location."

"Oh I won't?" Ada asked.

"All you have to do," Melissa said, "Is tell it where you want to go."

Ada simply burst into laughter. "That's too funny for me to believe. Just speak to it like its a pet?"

"So you don't believe me," Melissa said in a rather annoyed tone, "I suppose I will just have to prove it to you."

Melissa took out her experimenting model and repeated the process she had used with the last portal. She quickly got over to where Ada was standing, so as to avoid being sucked into the portal before she was ready.

"Now where do you want to go," Melissa told her friend.

There was only one place that Ada really wanted to go.

"Home," she answered.

"Portal," Melissa commanded to the swirling pinkness in front of them, "Take us to Ada Lovelace's bedroom at her home in Cybersite Helping Hand Land."

Melissa grabbed her slightly apprehensive friend by the arm and they jumped in. Ada, having never been in a portal vortex before, screamed hysterically the whole time as the girls were flipped over several times in the vortex. The portal spat the two out on top of Ada's bed back at home.

"H-h-how..." was all Ada could say as she looked around the familiar room.

"Now do you believe me?" Melissa asked smiling.

Ada nodded, too in awe to say anything.

Just then, the girls heard someone coming up the stairs.

"Hide under the bed," Ada mouthed to Melissa and the two did so as quickly and quietly as possible.

Right when they had made themselves completely hidden, Nanny opened the door to the bedroom. She could've sworn she heard somebody but there was no one there. She opened Ada's closet, nobody there. As the housemaid stood in the room, wondering if she was losing her circuits, Ada felt a sudden urge to sneeze. Melissa quickly held the girl's nose before any sound could escape. After Nanny left the room, the girls quietly got out from under the bed.

"Thank you Melissa," Ada whispered, "I'm sure she would've caught us if I had sneezed."

Melissa nodded in agreement.

"One question though," Ada stated, "How are we going to get back to the university?"

Melissa smiled and took out her purse that she still had in the pocket of her day dress. She opened the small zip-lock bag of portal dust and gracefully sprinkled a handful onto the ground. She then proceeded to activate the laser pointer on the Skwak Pad and directed it at the dust. Another swirling portal appeared.

"Portal," Ada began, but suddenly had her mouth covered by Melissa's slim blue hand.

"I want to see if it can read our thoughts and get us there without saying a command," Melissa whispered.

Ada nodded nervously. _"Is she insane? What will we do if we end up somewhere completely random?!"_

Despite these thoughts she followed her older friend into the portal, which landed them in no place other than their dorm room.

"I don't believe it," Ada exclaimed, "It read our thoughts?"

"Correction Ada. It read my thoughts," Melissa said as she brushed herself off, "I know I'm the first cyborg to make a portal, but still I'm about ninety percent positive that they only respond to the commands of the cyborg that created them."

Ada smirked. "And why do you say this?"

"I've done my research," Melissa said dryly, "Several cyborgs have been accidently sucked into naturally-occurring portals. If anyone going in could have their thoughts read by the portal, they would not end up in random places. Think about it."

"You have a point there my friend," Ada said as she gazed upon Melissa's nightstand.

On the nightstand was a photo of a young Melissa with her mother Eileen, taken on the last Christmas she ever spent with her parents.

"You really miss her don't you?"

Melissa wasn't sure at first what Ada was talking about. She turned around to see Ada staring at the photo.

"I miss them both," Melissa sighed, "We saw more of my father since he worked from home, but I always felt closer with my mother. I always looked up to her."

"You have her eyes," Ada said still looking at the picture.

"That's the same thing Bill said."

"Bill?" Ada asked.

"A cyboid I met at The Forest," Melissa replied, "That was where I commanded the first portal to go."

"Oh," Ada laughed.

Melissa's piercing blue eyes were still fixed on the picture.

"I know she and my father are watching over Marbles and I. I just wish I knew what she thinks of me now," Melissa said as she blinked away her tears, "Would she be proud of me?..."

"I guarantee you she is," Ada said softly.

Melissa continued to stare at the photo, her young cyborg-heart breaking yet again. She never liked to cry about this topic in front of anyone, especially her brother. She had promised herself that she would remain strong for him, for her friends, for everyone. Still, Marbles could secretly see right through her.

"Melissa?" Ada asked apprehensively, "You always act like a mother to everyone. To Marbles, to me, to everyone you love. Don't get me wrong, we all appreciate it and its one of the reasons we love you so much. But I was wondering if... is one of the reasons you do this, with Marbles specifically, because... because you are afraid to lose us too? Or because you are trying to make up for your mother not being here anymore?"

Both questions could simply be answered with a 'yes.' But the sixteen-year-old had never realized this. And it was this sudden realization that finally made her crack. Melissa turned to her friend and nodded, knowing what would happen if she opened her mouth to speak.

"Melissa," Ada said staring at her friend who was shaking from the emotional torture within her, "You don't have to hold back. Just let it out."

With that the emotional pain overwhelmed Melissa. She collapsed onto the floor in a ball, an ocean of tears falling from her eyes as she sobbed hysterically. Ada, knowing there was really nothing else she could do, sat down next to the trembling teenager and held her in a tight hug.

"You are one of the strongest cyborgs I know Melissa," Ada said consolingly, "I hope you know that."

And she continued to hug her friend tightly until she literally cried herself to sleep. When she finally did, Ada carried Melissa to her bed and laid her there, for Melissa was so light that even a younger female cyborg could lift her with ease. Ada sat at her desk and wrote a poem.

_"She puts on a smile so nobody sees_

_The pain that she refuses to set free_

_She's been through much and is afraid_

_But despite it all she is so brave_

_Her knowledge is vast, her soul is pure_

_There's nothing this girl can't endure..."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With the case of the coffee-damaged laptop finally solved, fourteen-year-old Marbles was now focusing on his next project, improving the Skwak Pads. As he was studying the inner parts of the device, Archimedes walked into the dorm.

"Hello Marbles," he greeted, "How was your date with Ada?"

"It was wonderful Archimedes," Marbles replied, "And you'll never believe what Ada and I did afterwards."

"Well?"

"We've fixed the laptop!"

"Oh that's wonderful news lad!" the fifteen-year-old exclaimed, "Now what will you do with it?"

"Sell it," Marbles answered, "None of us have any need for it."

"Well I hope you've written down somewhere what you did to fix it," Archimedes replied, "Because customers will be lining up at yer door when they find out you can fix hot liquid damage."

"Don't worry I did," Marbles laughed, "So did you find out anything interesting about the Archimedes of the real world?"

"Oh I did indeed lad," Archimedes answered, "I now know why I love the word Eureka."

"And why would that be?"

Archimedes blushed slightly upon thinking of what he just found out. "Er, perhaps I'll tell you some other time."

* * *

There's chapter 20 folks. I would like to thank Kawaii Stella and Kristianja Pantoflii for helping me out with this chapter. If you haven't read there works, you must do so. They're both brilliant authors!

And if you want to know the relation between Archimedes and Eureka, look up Archimedes on Wikipedia. I don't want to have to change the rating on this.

And, as always, please review!

See ya in Cyberspace!


	21. Chapter 21

** ~Chapter Twenty-One~**

Location: Cyber University:

Ada closed her poetry book and sat staring at the wall for a moment, deciding on what she should do with the rest of her night. It was currently 8:00 PM at Cyber University. In her mind she calculated how long it would take her to be ready for church the next morning and thus what time she'd have to wake up.

_"Twenty minutes in the shower, plus five minutes brushing teeth, plus twenty minutes drying/styling my hair, plus ten minutes for make-up, plus ten minutes dressing, plus a thirty minute bike ride to the church, equals... one hour and thirty five minutes. Add ten in case of a delay makes one hour and forty five minutes. Church starts at 10:00 A.M. Eleven O'clock minus one hour equals nine o'clock. Take away another forty five minutes... 8:15 A.M. If it takes me fifteen minutes to fall asleep then I should go to bed at 3:00 A.M."_ she calculated in her head.

So Ada had seven hours left of her day and no homework left to do. She saw that Melissa was still in bed, now having been asleep for about half an hour. Ada would've turned on the television, but she didn't want to wake her friend. She looked so peaceful. Instead Ada got her laptop out and decided to read the latest web headlines on cyhoo. She clicked the cyber-net explorer icon and the monitor opened up to her homepage. Her eyes widened in shock and dismay when she read the headline. **"The Loss of a Great Leader"** was the head title with a photo shown below. In the description beneath the photo read:** Today Cyberspace mourns the passing of former cyber-ruler Sir Dalhart. Click for more details.** Struggling to process what she was reading, she clicked on the headline.

**~It was reported that at 12:40 P.M today former cyber-ruler Sir Reginald Dalhart was found dead in his living room at his home in Cybersite Solaria. At half past Twelve, a neighbor heard yelling and gunshot sounds inside the fifty-eight-year-old's house. The neighbor, whom wishes to remain anonymous, peaked out her front window to see two masked cyborgs run out of the house and into a cyber-coupe. She contacted the police immediately but by the time they arrived at the house, it was too late.**

**"When we walked in the house, he was lying on his back with several gunshot wounds to his chest, head, and arms," says the town officer, "His circuits were sticking out in several places and there was a pool of oil all over the carpet. There was hardly even a need to check the pulse as one could see that his circuits weren't sparking at all. It was already clear from the site that he was dead."**

**Further investigation will be put into the case, but already the primary suspect of the murder is the infamous Abaddon along with his second in command, General Biff. There will...~**

Ada closed the window, unable to read anymore. She couldn't believe it! Sir Dalhart was dead! Worse than that he was murdered! She looked to her sleeping friend who was just beginning to stir.

_"My gosh," _Ada thought, _"She just let out all the memories of Abaddon's men killing her own parents. What will she think of this?"_

Melissa groaned as she opened her eyes and stretched. "How long was I asleep?"

"Only thirty minutes dear," Ada said.

_"I have to make sure she doesn't find out tonight."_

"Melissa," Ada said smiling, "I'm going to go visit Marbles and Archimedes. Would you care to join me?"

"Oh no thank you Ada," Melissa answered as she rose from her bed, "I'd like to continue designing the remote controlled portals tonight."

"Alright love," Ada said in her English accent as she got up from her desk, "Oh and Melissa?"

"Yes?"

Ada thought a white lie may help. "I'm afraid the cyber-net service is down campus-wide. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to do any online research."

"That's quite alright," the sixteen-year-old answered, "I took out several books from the campus library while you were gone."

Ada nodded and left the dorm. She went outside and got her 1900s style bicycle, one of three which her mother had to stop by and bring two days ago because they had forgotten to pack them. She went to her boyfriend's dorm. She had to tell Marbles and Archimedes what happened, that is if they didn't know already. Perhaps they could help her think of a way to break the news to Melissa.

Location: Control Central:

Control Central was on an emergency lockdown. After an attack made on the facility two years ago, Gerald Williams had decided evacuating was too dangerous for the employees and instead the place was renovated so that there was a special defense mode that would automatically lock the doors to the main control room, the hallways to the bedrooms, and anywhere else that could pose as a primary attack ground. This way nobody could get in without a password, a password that only employees knew. And when the news of Sir Dalhart's murder was announced at 1:00 P.M that day, Control Central was put in this emergency lockdown until Mr. Williams was sure they were safe from any attacks.

"Richard," P.C said from outside the chief technician's bedroom door, "Are you going to be ok?"

"Just leave me," came a voice from inside the room.

"He's still in there huh?" Gerald asked quietly, just coming down the hallway to check on the chief technician.

"Where else would he be Gerald?" P.C asked, "We've been on lockdown since 1:00."

"And we've been off lockdown since 5:30," Gerald pointed out and then knocked on the door, "Richard? Its me Gerald. Do you want to talk?"

Richard knew that Mr. Williams would understand if he didn't want to talk, but still he was the ruler of Cyberspace. Richard opened the door and let Gerald in. When Gerald saw the tears stained on his technician's face, his heart broke for the older cyborg. And it was even worse to know that several of the former cyber-ruler's associates were in this same shocked state. But Richard surely was the one hurting the most for he had been closer to the cyborg then any of the others. Gerald's mind raced back to earlier that day.

_~Flashback~_

_Gerald and Richard were in the main control room communicating through the supercomputer with the mayor of Poddleville about upping the security of the Cyber Power Vault Building1. Upon disconnection, there was another call waiting to be answered. When Richard pressed the accept call button, the monitor displayed the distraught face of Solaria's Governor Albert._

_"Hello Governor Albert," Gerald greeted him warmly._

_"Is everything alright?" Richard asked noticing the look of distress on the governor's face._

_"I wish it was Richard," Albert said, "Mr. Williams... Sir Dalhart is dead!"_

_"WHAT?!" both cyborgs exclaimed._

_"One of the neighbors heard gunshots at his house. When the police got there they found him dead. They say it was a homicide. I would strongly recommend putting Control Central on lockdown."_

_"Will do Albert," Gerald replied as he tried to hide his shock and grief, "Thank you for this information."_

_The transmission ended and Gerald turned to see a look on Richard's face that he had never seen in the time he knew the technician. The older cyborg was staring wide-eyed at nothing, lost in his own world of shock and devastation._

_"Richard," Gerald said quietly, "I'm so sorry."_

_"Gerald," Richard choked, "If you don't mind I would like to spend the lockdown in my room."_

_"Of course. Go on," the cyber-ruler said._

_The cyborg ran out of the control room and to the winding staircase outside connecting the balcony to the bottom of the main control room, the whole time avoiding contact with anyone. Meanwhile Gerald sounded the facility lockdown warning so that everyone could get to a secure and comfortable place before he activated the lockdown system._

_~End Flashback~_

Gerald and Richard sat down on the edge of Richard's bed.

"I'm really sorry about what happened with Sir Dalhart," Gerald said consolingly.

"He gave Abaddon what he wanted," Richard said slamming his fist against the bed, "Why does he still feel the need to kill him? That cyborg just never stops!"

"I know Rich," the current cyber-ruler said, "The cyborg lives up to his name, no doubt of it. But there's nothing that we can do about it. We just have to focus on not letting anything like it happen again."

"That's what he said after Clyde and Eileen were killed. That's why Abaddon got into power in the first place!"

"Well we are certainly not going to let that happen again. I can assure you," Gerald replied. He knew the whole story with the Bensons and even knew about the children, who were still being under the guise of 'dead,' even though he had never actually met them.

"Reg never wanted for the economy to go down so much," Richard said getting up and pacing around the room, "He was just desperate to get Abaddon off his killing spree. Reg was a great cyborg but he was so vulnerable at the time. I...I... oh gosh! Reg is dead!"

"I know Richard," Gerald said, "But he'll never truly be gone. He's still in heaven. We'll see him again. But if he were here he'd tell you stop ranting and working yourself up like this. We're gonna find this killer whether its Abaddon or..."

"It IS Abaddon!" Richard nearly shouted, "He sent me an email an hour ago boasting of his victory, like he always does."

"And we will find his new hide-away," Gerald said sternly as he stood up, "I refuse to let this demonic cyborg roam our world any longer!"

Location: Cyber University:

Ada got to the boy's dorm in ten minutes flat. She went inside and knocked on one of the doors. Archimedes opened it.

"Hello Ada," Archimedes greeted the teenaged girl and stepped aside, "Please come in."

"Thank you," Ada said curtsying and then walking into the dorm room.

"Good evening my lady," Marbles said as he got up from his desk and kissed his lover's hand.

"Good evening," she said curtsying again, "Boys, I need to talk to the two of you about something."

"What is it Ada?" Marbles asked now noticing the worry on his girlfriend's face.

"Have you two heard the recent news?"

"No I can't say I have," Marbles answered, "My cyber-net homepage doesn't give the news."

"I did," Archimedes said quietly, "I overheard some students talking about it while I was looking through the bookshelf at the campus library... I didn't really know how to break it to you Marbles, since I knew you and Melissa were close with him for awhile."

"That's why I came here," Ada said turning to her friend, "Melissa was already very upset today. I refuse to let her know tonight. But I don't know how to tell her period."

"EXCUSE ME!" Marbles interrupted, "Tell us what?"

Ada and Archimedes looked at each other than back at Marbles.

"Lad," Archimedes said, "Sir Dalhart was killed earlier today."

Marbles gasped. No, he didn't remember his relationship with the former cyber-ruler, but he knew that he was a great cyborg from everything he read about.

"Abaddon is the primary suspect," Ada continued, "I know that your memories are faded dear. But we all know that Melissa's aren't. She'll be devastated when we tell her."

"There's no point in telling her ourselves my lady," Marbles said sorrowfully, "There will surely be a mention of it in the sermon tomorrow morning."

"You're right Marbles, but either way she will be beyond devastated," Ada replied, "Marbles, I know she would not be pleased with me for telling you this, but today I watched her cry over your parents' death. Straight out sob."

Marbles HAD to sit down for this. He had seen his sister shed a few tears when she had been thrown off the swing by bullies way back when and he had even seen her whimper a little while watching girl movies with Ada, but never did he see, nor even imagine she would ever in her life, sob. She just seemed too strong for that.

"She was affected more than you realize Marbles," Ada continued, "She's been trying to be strong for you all these years. That's why she won't speak about your parents as much as you'd like her too."

"Poor Lassie," Archimedes sighed.

"So the point is," Ada said, "What can we do?"

"We just have to be there for her," Archimedes answered, "If she needs a shoulder to cry on we'll be that shoulder, if she chooses not to think about it or discuss it, than we let her be."

The young couple nodded in agreement.

"Alright," Ada said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The four students rode their bikes to church the next morning at 9:30. Amongst the campus, twenty different houses of worship existed: synagogues, churches of several different denominations, e.t.c. Though Ada and the Bensons had gone to a Catholic school, they were technically non-denominational Christians, as was Archimedes.

"I must say, it is generous of the school to make religious gathering places for everyone here," Marbles noted as they rode their bikes to the church.

"It is indeed Marbles," Archimedes replied, "Shall the four of us race to see who will get there first?"

Before anybody could answer this proposal, Archimedes skidded off on his bike. Marbles quickly followed after him as the two girls watched, not wanting to get their hair messed up after working so hard on it. After a couple of seconds though, they decided to join in on the race. The four arrived at the church, Marbles having won the race. They all sat at the front bench as they waited for the choir to begin the first hymn. After the congregation had sung a few, the pastor came up to the podium.

"My fellow brethren," he announced as the congregation sat down, "As many of you know, the life of our former cyber-ruler was taken yesterday. I would like to take a moment to say a prayer for the friends and loved ones of Sir Reginald Dalhart. He was, by far, a remarkable ruler and he is amongst the angels in heaven now. Please bow your heads with me."

As the pastor made this announcement, Melissa's eyes grew wide. How did she not know about this? Killed? It couldn't be? It couldn't have been HIM again? Could it? She let the questions out of her mind as she joined in the prayer. When the prayer was finished, Ada glanced over at Melissa, seeing the confused look on her face.

_"All I can do is be there for her,"_ she thought to herself as she opened her Bible to the chapter being used for the sermon, _"Just as Job's friends did."2_

* * *

1 Refer episode 107: "The Poddleville Case"

2 Job 2:12-13 "When they saw him from a distance, they could barely recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was."

Pretty long chapter, sorry about that. Please review! It took me forever!


	22. Chapter 22

WARNING: The content you are about to read is the result of severe writer's block, but please review all the same.

* * *

**~Chapter Twenty-Two~**

Location: Cyber University:

"So she's still in there?" Marbles asked his girlfriend after he and Archimedes returned from the nearby dining hall.

"Yes," Ada answered simply, waiting outside the doors to the church sanctuary.

A great portion of the church sermon had been in relation to the tragedy of the previous day. When the service had ended, Melissa had gone to the altar to have the pastor pray with her. When they had finished, she remained praying at the altar alone. Eventually the boys had grown tired of waiting and decided to have lunch with some of their friends from Chemistry class. Ada, however, had remained in the church lobby, studying her Bible to keep herself busy. She was starting to worry about her friend. Of course Melissa would be safe in the church, but Ada worried whether or not Melissa was going to be okay emotionally.

"I believe we oughta say a prayer for her too," Achimedes suggested as he stared in the direction of the sanctuary.

The couple nodded in agreement and all three joined hands, their Poddleville friend leading the prayer. Just as the words "Amen" were said, Melissa walked out of the sanctuary. Her blue eyes were sunken in from crying and she had an overall drawn look. She was shocked to see that her friends were still waiting for her in the lobby and when she saw her younger brother, she blushed with embaressment and wiped away any signs of tears when Marbles suddenly walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her thin frame.

"I'm sorry Melissa," Marbles said as he hugged her tighter.

"Thank you Marbles," Melissa said hugging him back, "I'm alright though, really."

The other two joined in on the hug. It was a true moment of friendship. Of support. Of love. Melissa appreciated having such a strong support group. It was something she never wanted to lose. She never wanted to lose the warmth of a friend's embrace.

Location: Control Central:

"You said you were through Abaddon!" Richard screamed louder than he ever had in his entire life.

Gerald and Richard were communicating with their longtime enemy through the supercomputer in the main control room. Abaddon had called them for no reason other than to brag of his victory.

"Ah-ah Richie," the red-eyed cyborg said condescendingly, "I said I was through with my attacks on Control Central. I said I was done with trying to take over Cyberspace. I never said I was through with all crime."

"Please state your purposes in killing Sir Dalhart!" Gerald demanded, "Though no excuse will stop us from hunting you down."

"Well I couldn't possibly leave my career of evil-doing without one last shibang," Abaddon laughed evilly, "I didn't sell my soul for nothing after all. Of course if this event does scare you enough that you feel the need to hand Cyberspace over to me, I'm more than happy to accept it."

"NEVER!" the two CC occupants shouted simultaneously.

"Fine," Abaddon answered monotonously. He remmbered how killing the Benson family had forced Sir Dalhart into surrendering and thought his recent homicide would work the same way. But he had drastically underestimated the new ruler's 'stubborness', "This will be the last time you hear from me."

With that, the transmission ended.

"I swear when I finally come face to face with that monster..."

''Richard," Gerald said cutting the technician off, "Please calm down."

''How can I calm down with HIM out there?!" Richard yelled.

"Get a grip Richard! I heard you the first time!"1 Gerald said sternly, "I personally do believe this will be his last criminal offense. But nevertheless, we will find his hideaway and he will be permanently deleted!"

"What makes you so sure Gerald?" Richard asked confusedly.

"Abaddon is getting old," Gerald answered simply, "He is approaching the age of 240 cyber-years. Another ten years and the aging process will begin to kick in. He can't keep this up forever. And once he's finally found, he won't have to worry about growing any older."

Richard paused and took a deep breath. "Alright," he sighed, "I trust you."

Gerald smiled and was about to go back to his office to look through some bills when he was stopped by a question.

"Say Gerald?" the chief technician asked, "How are things going with you and that lady?''

The cyber-ruler laughed lightly, "I told you. We're just friends right now. Besides, I'm much too busy right now to be in a serious relationship."

"Don't be so sure my respected ruler,'' Richard teased, "You never know..."

Location: Cyber University:

Ada and Melissa had returned to their dorm at 2:00 P.M. Now four hours later, Melissa sat on her bed and watched the news as the anchor announced the confirmation of Abaddon being responsible for Sir Dalhart's death.

''Melissa," Ada said bringing the girl a tray with a cup of tea and a neatly cut cucumber sandwich on it, "I know this is very hard for you, but you've been watching the news all day now. You need to take your mind off of this for at least a little while."

"I know," Melissa said sadly as she pushed the sandwich and tea away, "But I can't. Sir Dalhart was such a good friend to the family. And to me. He was so helpful to Marbles and I when our parents died. Once he resigned we couldn't communicate anymore because it was too dangerous. I've missed him so much. It just seems that Abaddon takes away everyone I care about."

"I know dear. He is an evil and vicious cyborg. But you mustn't worry about that right now," Ada said pushing the tray back to Melissa, "Here. You need to eat something. You haven't eaten all day."

''I don't want anything Ada," the girl replied, "Thank you though."

"Just try to Melissa," Ada begged, "Its your favorite."

Melissa glanced to her roommate to see her giving the classic puppy-dog pout. "Oh alright," she relented as she took a small bite of the food.

Ada smiled. "Now how about we watch something different? Anything on those real world channels?"

"I'll see," Melissa said as she sipped her tea and flicked through the channels which aired shows somehow obtained from Earth.

"What in Cyberspace?..." Ada said as a specific Earth channel caught her attention, "Melissa go back to that channel."

Melissa flicked back to the channel. It was a channel that showed back-to-back movies from Earth. What Melissa and Ada saw on the TV screen was something that had premiered in Earth theaters just a few Earth-months ago. The movie was called TRON.

"What is this?" Ada asked.

"Its that new movie the Earth citizens released. Its called TRON," Melissa explained, "I hear its about a human going into Cyberspace."

The two kept watching as the characters drove in the most ridiculous looking-vehicles and they burst into girlish laughter.

"I can't believe this is what they think Cyberspace looks like!" Ada exclaimed.

"Its not even close," Melissa answered, "This looks more like... I don't even know!"

"If only there was a way to show them," Ada suggested, "Wouldn't they be surprised..."

"Oh that reminds me," Melissa said jumping up from her bed, "I had better get back to my experimenting before..."

"Not so fast Melissa! We still have some movie critiquing to do," Ada said as she pointed to the film which was becoming increasingly insulting to the existence of Cyberspace.

Melissa smiled. "Well I suppose I could use a break."

The two continued to watch the movie, either laughing at its inaccurate portrayal of their world, or being incredibly offended by the real world's ideas on cyber-fashion. Or both.

_"Perhaps someday they'll realize,"_ Melissa thought, _"Someday, maybe they'll see what Cyberspace is really like..."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Checkmate," Marbles said as he moved a chess piece across the board. He and Archimedes had been playing several rounds for the past hour.

"Looks like yer going to win again lad," Archimedes sighed as he took his turn.

"There must be something else that we can do," Marbles complained, now taking his turn.

"The good thing about being the smart ones is we don't have to work as hard to get good grades," Archimedes said as he took another turn, "The bad thing, we're left with nothing to do. Checkmate."

"I know I'll need at least a full year of college education to learn what I need for my experiments, so I've just put them aside for now," Marbles replied as he took his final turn, "I win."

Archimedes sighed. "You lucky lad."

Marbles laughed and then thought of something. "Hey, Steve said that the junior college baseball team is having their first batting practice tomorrow right?"

"I believe so," Archimedes said, "Why?"

"Maybe the coach would let the four of us watch," Marbles answered, "It would be a good way to support our new friend."

"That's a great idea Marbles," Archimedes said, "But that still doesn't give us anything to do tonight."

"It does so. We can help him with his College Algebra so he doesn't have to worry about it tomorrow."

Archimedes thought about this. Steve did say he was struggling with his Algebra homework, while both Archimedes and his roommate had taken A.P Algebra in high school and passed with flying colors. They could both provide some means of assistance.

"Alright," Archimedes answered, "I'll call him."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day Archimedes, Marbles, Ada, and Melissa all went to the baseball field and sat in the bleachers.

"Hey guys," Steve said as they sat down on the middle row, "Thanks for coming to watch me. It really means a lot."

"Your welcome Steve," Ada said politely.

"And Marbles, Archimedes. Thanks for helping me with my homework last night. Gives me one less thing to worry about today."

"No problem lad," Archimedes answered, "But you better get out there before you get in trouble."

Steve nodded and went back to the field. The team members were each standing in line as the pitching machine threw balls at them. The coach had set it at high speeds and random directions to test just how well each player was already.

"Come on boys you can do better than that!" the coach yelled as one by one, each player missed the ball.

Steve was the last player up and was very nervous. He had high hopes of being a famous baseball player, but he was never very confident in himself. So when it was his turn, his nerves got to him and he also missed the ball.

"Poor lad," Archimedes sighed, "He tried so hard."

"Melissa what are you doing?" Ada asked as her friend go up from the bleachers.

"I think I can offer some assistance," she answered simply as she walked down to the bleachers.

"Is she out of her circuits?!"Ada exclaimed as she watched Melissa go towards the screaming coach.

"I am very disappointed in all of you!" Coach Gates shouted at the team, "I can't believe not one of you could hit that ball! Our first game will be in the spring semester and based on what I just saw it'll take..."

"Excuse me sir," Melissa interrupted.

"What do you want?!" the coach shouted, making Melissa slightly flinch but not intimidating her in the least bit.

"I believe I can help," she answered with full confidence and dignity, "I think I know how they can hit the ball more easily."

The coach took one look at the girl and burst into laughter, the team members (with the exception of Steve) joining him.

"Look miss," Coach Gates said, "This is no game for the ladies. Why doncha go knit a sweater or something and leave this up to the boys, okay?"

Melissa gave the classic female-stare-of-death and placed one hand on her hip. "Correction Coach Gates," she answered back with an attitude, "This game may be known as a man's sport, but I can assure you that a woman is just as capable as any man."

"You think you're so sure girly?" the coach mocked.

Melissa nodded. The coach handed her a bat.

"Then go out there and show us."

"Consider it done," Melissa replied and walked gracefully yet respectfully out to the field.

"Melissa are you sure you wanna do this?" Steve asked as she walked.

"Don't worry Steve," Melissa said with a smile, "I can do this."

The rest of the team laughed hysterically as they watched the girl step up to the batting plate. Melissa certainly wasn't dressed to play baseball. She wore a silver, silk V-neck dress that stopped below her knees and had long sleeves that were loose around the wrists. Around her neck was a matching choker, her usual silver locket, and a silver bracelet on her wrist. She wore high-heeled shoes and her gorgeous blue hair fell to her waist in its usual soft curls without a single strand falling out of place. Melissa looked as elegant and poised as a queen to them, but that didn't mean she didn't know what she was doing. The machine spat a ball at her and she swung. To everyone's shock, she, a woman, hit the ball out of the park. The coach stood dumbfounded as Melissa walked back in her perfect posture and stopped in front of him.

"So Coach," Melissa said, "Do you still think a woman can't play?"

"Alright," he sighed, "I was wrong. Now tell the boys how you did it. Because, honestly, I've only seen one other hit a throw like that and he won't tell."

"Oh its simple Coach," she laughed as she handed him the bat, "Choke up on the bat and hit the ball where its pitched."2

With that, the sixteen-year-old walked away triumphantly and without a single scratch or rip on her dress.

* * *

1 "Get a grip Digit. I heard you."- Motherboard. Cyberchase Episode 509 "On the Line."

2. "Choke up on the bat and hit the ball where its pitched."-Motherboard. Cyberchase Episode 114 "Cool It."

Note: Please don't be offended if you're a fan of TRON. I wasn't trying to make fun of the movie, I was just trying to show the difference between the Cyberspace of Cyberchase and the Cyberspace of other films/shows.


	23. Chapter 23

**~Chapter Twenty-Three~**

College, at first, proved to be a big adjustment for Ada, Archimedes, and the Bensons. They were living on their own now as adults, though they weren't even eighteen yet. However, their abnormally vast amount of knowledge, as usual, came to an advantage. While all their new friends were stressing over tests, projects, and homework, these four were finishing their assignments in half the time and moving on to the next level long before the professors were finished teaching the present one. When the teenagers weren't studying they were hanging out with each other or tutoring the other students.

But when the eldest came of age and had to leave the academically gifted semi-campus of Cyber University, her contact with the other three was dramatically reduced. Melissa Benson, now eighteen years old and residing in the semi campus for Juniors, was spending most of her spare time running experiments on her portals, and with great success. She now had successfully installed a portal-programming software onto her laptop and into special remote controls. Despite the advantage of portals, she still couldn't use them on campus due to the attention it would bring. Thus, she only used them for her weekend visits to her cyboid friend in The Forest. The amount of money Melissa had received in scholarships made it possible for her to live in a private dorm, so she didn't have to worry about a roommate catching her. But overall she was lonely, very lonely.

Other students liked her. In fact they liked her a lot, but none were so wrapped up in anything as much as she was with politics and technology. All except for one man that is. A man in Melissa's History III class. A cyborg of nineteen whom was also an early graduate.

His name was Antoine Klemmons and he was a transfer student from a private university in Pompadoria. Antoine was wanted by every female cyborg in his classes. He was handsome, refined, intelligent, and anything else one would want in a man. But no matter how many beautiful women tried their luck with him, his thoughts were only on one woman. And they had been since day one. That woman was Melissa. Still, despite his great qualities, he was somewhat shy when it came to women. And the words from his male classmates didn't help much.

"Don't bother Antoine," said one guy, "I was in a summer course with her last semester. She doesn't even notice half of her classmates. She's too busy pouring over her books."

"She has her own posse," said a boy who had been in her sophomore French class, "They're still living in the academically gifted campus, but still she and the rest of them hardly associate with anyone else."

"You can smile at her from across the classroom all day," a girl with a crush on the boy whispered one day during the lecture, "Melissa won't notice you. Why not just try your dating luck with another girl?"

But everyday Antoine just became more intrigued by the girl. Every time she answered a question in class, it was with such eloquence that he couldn't help but sigh in amazement. His friends had to stifle their laughter. Little did any of them know Melissa Benson actually had noticed him. He had answered questions with just as much eloquence, in her opinion. But any type of romantic relationship was far from the eighteen-year-old girl's thoughts. All she ever thought about were her studies, her experiments, and her friends. Two months after the fall semester had begun, this was still going on.

But tonight, Melissa was putting her work aside. It was Halloween and there was a masked ball in Castleblanca. After much begging from Ada, she had decided to go. However, she had made Ada promise to quiz her on her computer skills during the drive.

"I honestly don't know why you feel the need to be quizzed on this," Ada said as Melissa started the cyber-coupe, "You and Marbles know computers better than anyone else."

"One can never be too certain Ada," Melissa answered.

"Alright," Ada sighed as she shuffled the flashcards and picked the first one, "Which part of the computer stores information while the computer is turned on?"

"The Random Access Memory," Melissa answered instantly, "Also known as the RAM."

"Correct." Ada took out another card and giggled slightly. "Who was the first computer programmer on Earth?"

Melissa smirked and rolled her eyes. "Lady Lovelace."

"I do believe its almost time for me to start going by 'Lady' as opposed to 'Miss,'" Ada said. Pulling out another flash card, she read, "What year was the floppy disk invented?"

"Earth year 1971," Melissa said turning the direction of the cyber-coupe, "Cyber-year 17710."

"A single-chip processor used for three dimensional functions," Ada read off another flash card.

"Graphics Processing Unit, also known as GPU."

"This carries out all functions of the computer."

"Central Processing Unit," Melissa answered automatically, "Also known as the CPU."

"A computer made for high-volume and processor intensive computing that can..."

"Mainframe," Melissa answered before Ada could even finish the definition.

"You're a mainframe you know that?" Ada joked.

The two girls laughed lightly at the joke and Ada continued quizzing her older friend. The quizzing lasted the entire drive to Castleblanca and Melissa quickly answered each question correctly while still keeping her eyes on her driving. As they neared the cybersite, Ada came to the last flashcard.

"The main circuit board of the computer, which connects all parts together. Is also known as the logic board," Ada read.

"That's too easy," Melissa said, "I don't know why I even bother to put that term in. Its the motherboard."

"That's what you are," Ada teased, "a motherboard."

"I thought I was a mainframe?" Melissa replied.

"I would say a motherboard is a better description of you," Ada said, "Its so much more feminine."

"Of course its more feminine," Melissa said, "It has the word 'mother' in it!"

"Exactly!" Ada said.

Melissa glanced over at her friend's 'state-the-obvious' remark and shook her head. "Well I don't understand what you mean by me being either a motherboard or a mainframe."

"Just your overall knowledge," Ada said, "You're more than just a walking encyclopedia. You're more like a walking computer!"

Melissa smiled at the compliment as she landed the cyber-coupe in the parking lot behind the castle holding the masked ball. "Thank you Ada. Now shall we go to this ball?"

"We shall," Ada said, mimicking an accent more high class than her real one, "Oh, 'tis a pity the boys couldn't join us!"

The girls put their masks on and went into the ballroom of the castle. They were the two loveliest female cyborgs there and had the most beautiful ball gowns and masks also.

Ada wore a short-sleeved pink floor length gown with frills bordering the hem, sleeves, and collar. The collar also was embroidered with gold lace. Ada's mask was light pink with gold embroidering the rim and eyes and various designs were painted across the mask using glittering gold paint. It covered the top part of her face, had dark pink feathers at the top of one corner, and was tied at the back with a pink silk ribbon. Ada's hair was tied up in her signature bun and she wore white heels.

Melissa wore an elegant, floor-length, cream colored dress with short sleeves and a vertical floral design from the hips down. Laces loosely hung from the sleeves and collar and she, as always, wore her silver locket. Melissa had on white wrist-length gloves, also with lace trimmings. Her perfectly curled hair was smoothed down on the top with her curls falling in ringlets at the bottom. **(A/N: Just go to perfectlocksdotcom. (That dot is a period.) Look up 6 way-back wedding hairstyles. They call it Belle of the Ball. I can't describe it. ) **As for her mask, it was of cream color and also covered only the top half of her face and was adorned with sequins.

"Welcome ladies," a gnome said as they entered the ballroom, "You both look enchanting."

"Thank you," the girls said simultaneously as they curtsied.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile a group of three single boys from their university had also decided to go to the ball in hopes of finding a girl.

"Come on Antoine," a boy named Brian said as they all sat down at a cloth-covered table, "Just forget about the girl for tonight and find someone else."

"I can't," Antoine said, "I know I've never actually met Melissa, but I can tell there's just something about her that no other girl has."

"A brain?" a boy named Terrence suggested, "That's bad if they have a brain. Then they know if we're up to something!"

Terrence and Brian laughed until they realized the look their friend was giving them. "Antoine I was just kidding!" Terrence said.

Antoine rolled his eyes at his less mature friends, then noticed Ada and Melissa sitting at a table not too far from them. Even with her mask on, Antoine could tell who the girl in the cream-colored dress was.

"Brian! Terrence!" he exclaimed, "She's here!"

"Where?" Brian asked looking around the ballroom.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Melissa sat her tea down as she recognized a specific boy from a table nearby.

"What are you staring at Melissa?" Ada asked.

"I believe I see a boy from my History class over there," she answered.

Ada looked in the direction Melissa was staring. "Which one?"

"You see that boy in the black tuxedo and white mask?" she said gesturing head as it would be rude to point, "His name is Antoine. He is in my History class."

"Oh Melissa!" Ada said spotting the boy, "He is terribly handsome!"

Melissa smiled. She never had paid much attention to outer beauty. "Yes. He is handsome," she said plainly, "We've never actually talked, but based on the way he answers questions in class, he seems to be a very intelligent young man."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Go talk to her Antoine!" Brian urged, "No time could be better."

"Yeah," Terrence agreed, "Girls love it when a 'mysterious boy' asks to dance with them."

"I don't know..." Antoine said sheepishly.

"TALK TO HER!" both boys shouted loud enough for the table next to them to hear.

"Alright already!" Antoine said as he got up from his chair and walked over to Melissa and Ada's table.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oh Melissa," Ada said excitedly, "It looks like he is coming this way."

Antoine walked over formally and confidently, but inside he was a nervous wreck.

"Hello Melissa," he said smiling, "Do you recognize me?"

"Antoine Klemmons?" she asked and he nodded yes, "Yes I recognize you. You're in my History class. By the way, you're presentation last week was very nice."

"Thank you," he replied then held out his hand, "May I have this dance?"

Melissa smiled and took his hand. "You may."

All the dance lessons her elementary school had taught were paying off tonight. She waltzed with such grace, it was as if she were a fairy. (Coincidently her name originates from a Greek mythological fairy). This gracefulness made Antoine all the more infatuated with her. Melissa also admired his dancing and suddenly began to feel as if she were in Heaven.

"You're a very good dancer," he said after about an hour.

"Thank you Antoine," Melissa answered blushing, "You're quite the dancer as well."

Antoine smiled. "You know I've been wanting to tell you for a while... You answer questions very... eloquently. You seem like a very bright young woman."

"I had just been telling Ada over there how intelligent you seem to be."

"Really?" he laughed nervously.

Melissa nodded.

The two continued to dance the rest of the night. When the ball ended at midnight, they were the last cyborgs on the dance floor.

"Hey!" Brian shouted from the table causing the two to stop dancing, "Ball's over now Antoine. Let's go!"

The two looked around and realized only they and their friends were still in the ballroom. Even the small orchestra had stopped playing.

"Well," Antoine said, "Perhaps we can hang out sometime after class?"

"I would like that," Melissa said smiling, "I've been very lonely since coming to the Junior campus."

"Well, you can always hang out with me if you want to."

"WRAP IT UP!" Terrence shouted.

"Well... Good night," Melissa said curtsying.

"Good night Melissa," Antoine said and began to walk away but then turned back to her, "You look beautiful tonight by the way."

With that he quickly but politely walked away, nervous that the compliment might have been too much, while his dance partner for the night turned bright red. Melissa walked out of the ballroom, practically in a trance, and over to where her cyber-coupe was. Ada was waiting inside the coupe writing a poem about the ball.

"Well its about time you came out," Ada teased, "I would imagine your feet must be bleeding oil by now."

Melissa said nothing as she sat in the driver's seat smiling dreamily.

"Hello! Cyberspace to Melissa!" Ada said waving her hand over her friend's face

Still no response.

"Can you hear me Melissa?"

But Melissa couldn't hear Ada. All she could hear was her heart pounding loudly in her chest.

* * *

There's chapter 23. The definitions for CPU, GPU, Mainframe, etc can be found on techterms . com

Please review!


	24. Chapter 24

Hello! Sorry this chapter has taken so long. A lot has been going on. I saw Fleetwood Mac in concert the other night. (FLOOR LEVEL!) and so I've been really tired today and yesterday. Then before that I was getting my costume prepared for the concert. So here it is, chapter 24 Please review!

I do not own Cyberchase.

Enjoy...

* * *

**~Chapter Twenty-Four~**

_"Thursday 1 November 17820, 1:30 A.M_

_Dear Diary,_

_I really should be winding down right now, since I have to be up early for an 8:00 A.M class, but I simply must write about everything that happened tonight. (Or last night technically). I went to that masked ball I had written of in the last entry and I am glad now that Ada had convinced me to go. We ran across a boy from my history class. His name is Antoine Klemmons and he asked me to dance with him. We had never even spoken to each other yet he wanted to dance with me! I, of course, accepted. Until tonight I never had noticed just how strikingly handsome he is. I suppose I've been too wrapped up in my studies to really socialize much with anyone. _

_Anyway, he asked me to dance with him and I accepted. We spent the whole of the ball dancing only with each other. I can't quite say why, but it felt as if I were dancing on air. Perhaps it was his gracefulness in the waltz or perhaps it was the sweet violins of the orchestra. And every time I looked directly in his eyes it felt as if I were melting, but I strangely didn't mind it. I felt so very safe in his arms. Oh dear! Just listen to me. I sound like... well... a fool! That's what I sound like. You would think I was in love with the man, and we've only just spoken to each other tonight! But then again, we have been in the same class for two months and I can tell by the way he answers questions that he is very intelligent. Oh, and he wants to start hanging out with me! Finally I won't feel so terribly alone on this campus. _

_He told me I was a wonderful dancer. And he said that I looked beautiful tonight! Just recalling that one moment in my mind is making my circuits run on autopilot. But I can't possibly be in love? Its much too soon. But then why, when I danced with him, did it feel like we were the only ones there? Why can I feel my heart beating faster just by thinking about him? ... It must have been the atmosphere of the ball. Yes, surely that is it. It was such a romantic setting. Of course it would feel like I've fallen for anyone I end up dancing with._

_Still, it will be nice to have someone to talk to finally. Unfortunately, I don't have History class again until Friday. But perhaps I'll run into him somewhere. Oh I should've given him my cy-phone number while we were there. Oh well. I suppose I'll just have to be patient. And I better go to bed now. After all that's transpired I shall need extra time lying down to go into sleep mode. Good night."_

Melissa closed her diary and sat it on her night stand. As she got up from her bed to change into a night gown, she let out a small grunt of pain. Her feet were terribly sore from the hours of dancing without rest. After she had said her prayers, she climbed into bed and lay still for about thirty minutes, her mind still racing with thoughts of the past few hours. She thought about her favorite fiction novel Les Miserables and its description of the first encounter between Marius and Cosette.

_"This is just like that!"_

When Melissa finally did fall asleep, all her dreams were of her new friend.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Melissa's alarm clock woke her at 7:00 A.M. on Friday. She was rested, but disappointed. In her dreams she had been walking through the Forever Forest of her home site Pompadoria. How she missed that place! She was walking with none other than Antoine and he was just about to say something to her when she was stirred by the unpleasant buzzing. As Melissa stretched, she suddenly realized something. She never had picked an outfit for today. As she rushed over to her closet, she stopped in her tracks.

"What am I doing?" Melissa asked herself, "I'm never this frantic over finding an outfit!"

Truthfully, in the back of her mind, she was wanting to look her very best for when she saw Antoine today. But she insisted to herself that she was simply tense, for whatever reason. After showering she decided on a white, long-sleeved Victorian-style dress of ankle-length that had a pink sash around the waist and puffed slightly around the shoulders. **(A/N: Search Victorian dresses on tumblr. There's a picture of three girls in white Victorian dresses walking outside holding hands. The girl in the middle is wearing the dress that inspired Melissa's dress). **She smoothed down the skirt of the dress and slipped on a pair of white knee-highs. After that she threw her robe over her outfit and applied her usual make-up look: foundation, dark red lipstick, eye liner, and various eye shadows which she used to make her signature smoky eye look. With a final overlook of her reflection she put on a pair of flats, threw her book bag and purse over her shoulder and went out to get her bike.

As Melissa rode her bike across the campus, she felt the cold November air blow past her, making her shiver.

_"Drats! I should've brought my pea-coat," _she thought to herself as she pushed the pedals on her bike harder in an attempt to warm herself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Antoine straightened his red sweater and gave himself one last glance over in the mirror.

"Antoine!" his roommate Brian exclaimed, "Will you relax already?! You're just going to class. Its not like the two of you are going on a date or anything!"

"I know," Antoine sighed, "But now that she actually notices me I want to really impress her."

"DUDE! Every girl in this school has a crush on you! I don't see how Melissa would be an exception."

"Because most of these girls haven't met guys like me," Antoine answered.

"Oh you think you're so high and mighty all of sudden?" Brian asked sarcastically.

"No," Antoine said realizing how arrogant he sounded, "I meant..."

Brian laughed. "I'm just kidding man! I know what you were trying to say. Most men aren't as reserved or as smart as you. You have class and are more mature. That's why girls like you. You're different. But because Melissa is CLEARLY just as smart and reserved, you think that she thinks she's too good for you. Am I right?"

Antoine nodded.

"Look," Brian explained, "I've said it before and I'll say it again. If she doesn't like you for you, then she isn't worth it."

"That's not how you were at the ball," Antoine replied, "There you just treated her like she was some prize I was after!"

"I was just teasing! You know that!" Brian said, "Antoine, I've known you since high school and you're a great guy. Just relax, go to class, talk to her. If it eventually turns into something, great. If not, there are plenty of other women out there."

Antoine sighed. "You're the only person I know that's been encouraging me in any way about this."

"Hey that's what best friends do," Brian said patting his friend on the back.

Antoine smiled. "Well we better go now. Its 8:45 already."

The two young men put their jackets on, got their book-bags, and headed to their classes. When they got to the building, they saw Melissa locking her bike to the bike rack. Antoine felt himself blush upon seeing her. In her flowing white dress she looked like God's most perfect angel visiting from Heaven.

"Just play it cool Antoine," Brian whispered to his friend and roommate as they got closer to where she was, "Ask her how she is or something."

Melissa was just closing the lock on her bike when the two boys got to her.

"Good morning Melissa," Antoine greeted.

Melissa let out a small gasp and turned around. "Oh, good morning Antoine," she said quickly getting up to curtsy.

"I'm sorry," he said realizing he'd snuck up on her, "I didn't mean to frighten you... And you don't have to curtsy for me. I'm no king."

"Its just the way I was raised," Melissa replied, "I always curtsy when I greet someone relatively new or say goodbye."

Antoine smiled. _"How classy she seems to be." _

"This is my best friend and roommate Brian."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Melissa said curtsying once more.

"Nice to meet you too Melissa," he said smiling and then turned to his friend, "Well Antoine. I've got a science class to go to."

With that Brian turned to go into the building, leaving Antoine and Melissa alone.

"Well," Melissa said laughing nervously, "I suppose we better get to class as well."

"Yes," Antoine said just as nervous, "Yes of course."

"Thank you," Melissa said as Antoine held the door open for her.

"So how have you been?" Antoine asked as they walked up the stairway to their History class.

"I've been very well thank you," Melissa answered, "And you?"

"Fine," Antoine answered, "I got back my grade for my Inter-Cybersite Relations presentation. I got an A."

"Congratulations!" Melissa said, "I take it then that you're also a Political Science Major?"

Antoine nodded. "And you?"

"Double major," Melissa answered as she pushed back a strand of hair from her face, "Political Science and Computer Science."

"Oh wow!"

Melissa smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Its really not as time consuming as you may think. I've been pouring over college level books since I was five."

Antoine's eyes widened in amazement. He knew she was smart, but he had never imagined this. "Oh! So all this is basically Elementary school for you."

Melissa laughed. "I guess you could say so..."

The two got to their classroom, where the lecture was to begin in about two minutes.

"Well we better get in there before we miss that history movie the professor is showing us today," Antoine said.

"Yes," Melissa said as they both stood to the side of the door.

"Perhaps we can see each other after classes," he suggested, "Do you have anything after this?"

"Not until 11:00," Melissa answered, "I have an hour gap between this and my Computer Organization class."

"Great!" Antoine exclaimed, "I have an hour gap between this and my Political Thought class. We can meet up right after class... If you want to that is."

"Sure," Melissa said, trying to contain her excitement.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Alright class," the History professor said as he paused the movie, "We'll finish this up tomorrow. Remember, there will eventually be a quiz on this so continue to take notes. Have a good weekend."

"Have a nice weekend Sir," Antoine said politely as he and Melissa left the classroom.

"Thank you Mr. Klemmons."

"That was a swell movie I must say," Antoine said as he and Melissa walked down the stairs.

"Yes," Melissa agreed, "Its one thing to read about the Great Cyber War. Its a completely different thing to see it portrayed on screen like that."

"It certainly seems to have been a horrible time for everyone."

Melissa was quiet a moment, remembering her late father comparing Abaddon's attacks to the Great Cyber War when she had eavesdropped on his conversation ten years ago. But she quickly pushed the thought from her mind as she nodded in agreement.

"Is something wrong?" Antoine asked in a concerned voice, noticing the quick change in her expression.

"Oh no," Melissa answered, "I was just... thinking that yes it must've been a hard time for Cyberspace."

"Oh..." Antoine said. He was sure that wasn't it, but he didn't want to be nosy.

The two continued walking and they decided to sit on a bench outside.

"So where are you from?" Melissa asked, ignoring the cold air.

"Pompadoria," Antoine answered sitting down next to her, "I transferred here from a private college. I wasn't exactly ready to be so far from home yet."

Melissa's eyes widened. "My brother and I were born in Pompadoria!"

"Really?! You don't look Pompadorian."

Melissa laughed. "Nor do you," she said pointing out his short brown hair.

"I know," Antoine laughed, "I wanted to look a bit different so I starting getting my hair cut short back in high school. But you though... you don't even have the hair texture."

"Well," Melissa began, "My family isn't from Pomapadoria. My parents moved there a year or two before I was born, from what I've been told."

"Oh I see," Antoine said, "So where are they from?"

"I don't know," Melissa said quietly as horrible memories flooded her mind once more, "They died before they could ever tell my brother or I."

"Oh Melissa, I'm so sorry!" Antoine said feeling extremely guilty for bringing up something so touchy, "I didn't know."

"Oh its alright Antoine," Melissa said as her eyes started to tear, "It was ten years ago. I'm-"

"No its not alright," Antoine said handing his crush his handkerchief, "I know how it feels." He became quiet also. "I lost my parents too."

Any tears that were about to fall from Melissa's blue eyes suddenly stopped as she looked up at Antoine. "You did?"

"Yes," Antoine said looking to the sky as memories flashed by him too, "I was five years old when my father died of illness. Then four years later my mother was killed during a tornado. I've lived with my uncle ever since."

"I'm terribly sorry Antoine."

"Its okay," he replied turning his gaze back to her, "I just know how hard it is to lose someone so close. I'll NEVER get over losing them. I know that. And it seems you haven't gotten over your loss either."

Melissa shook her head as an answer. Suddenly a cold gust of wind breezed past them and she shivered again.

"Where's your coat?" Antoine asked, noticing her shivering.

"I forgot it," Melissa replied hugging herself to keep warm.

Antoine took off his jacket and covered her slim shoulders with it. "Here. My sweater's really warm. I don't need the jacket right now."

"Thank you," Melissa said, again trying to hide her giddiness as Antoine laid his warm jacket upon her shoulders.

"The weather certainly is getting cold now isn't it?"

Melissa nodded in agreement.

"Again I am really sorry I brought up... well you know..."

Melissa smiled. Even though they hardly knew each other, she had this strange feeling that she could tell him anything. "Can I tell you something else?"

"Of course," Antoine answered then nervously said, "But only if you really want to. You don't have to tell me anything that you don't feel comfortable talking about."

Melissa nodded. "My parents," she whispered, "My parents were Clyde and Eileen Benson."

Antoine's eyes widened in shock. "Sir Dalhart's Clyde and Eileen?!" he whispered back.

Melissa nodded again.

"But I thought that everyone in that house was killed?"

"Not everyone," Melissa replied, "My brother and I made a narrow escape. Abaddon's army lied to him that we were dead and Sir Dalhart went with the lie to protect us. We live somewhat of a secret life as a result. Every school we've been to was ordered to keep our records as private as possible, showing them only to other school officials."

"And... what about during Abaddon's reign?" Antoine asked curiously

"It was the most dangerous time in our lives," Melissa said, her voice dropping low, "Right before Dalhart left office, his last order was for the school to keep our records locked where nobody could find them. And my brother and I could not go beyond the premises of our town. Unfortunately, it simply won't ever be safe for us until Abaddon is permanently stopped."

"How many people know you're the Bensons' daughter?" he asked.

"Not many," Melissa answered, "One of my brother's friends knows, our caretaker knows, the school district we went to knows, the college officials know, and now you know. For everyone else, its just a coincidence that our names end with Benson."

Antoine was shocked, yet honored at the fact that Melissa was entrusting him with this information. "Don't worry Melissa. I won't tell anybody."

"Thank you Antoine."

Antoine smiled shyly and Melissa smiled back. The two sat gazing at each other a while longer until...

"Hey Antoine buddy!" Terrence shouted from outside the building across from theirs, "Are you coming to class or are you just gonna sit there lookin' pretty?!"

Antoine sighed. "He is so immature! Please forgive him... Maybe I'll see you at the end of the day?"

"Maybe."

"Here. I'll give you my cy-phone number" he said pulling out his cy-phone from his pants pocket.

Melissa got her cy-phone out as well and the two exchanged numbers before he left for his next class, letting her keep the jacket for the day.

When Melissa went to her Computer Organization class, she found it was cancelled due to a family emergency. The girl rode her bike back to her dorm and, after saying a quick prayer for her professor's family, fell back on to her bed holding Antoine's jacket against her chest and sighed dreamily.

"There's something about him," she said to nobody, "He's just so perfect."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

While Antoine was in his Political Thought class, politics were not his thoughts. All he could think of was Melissa.

_"What is it about her? She's just so perfect."_


	25. Chapter 25

So the challenge in this chapter: See how many referenced episodes you can find AND which member of the cybersquad is Ada a predecessor of...

Of course, I don't own Cyberchase

Enjoy and as always review

* * *

**~Chapter Twenty-Five~**

"Marbles! I think that's enough straightening up for one day lad!" Archimedes exclaimed as his roommate reorganized his bookshelf. Lately Marbles was becoming obsessed with everything being in perfect order.

"I can't help it Archimedes," Marbles said, "I just have this sudden urge to make sure everything is upgraded to perfection."

"That can never happen though Marbles."

"Not so Archimedes," the sixteen-year-old boy argued, "Look."

Marbles walked over to his desk drawer and pulled out a blueprint he had made.

"What's this?" Archimedes asked, "Some sort of room-cleaner in the works?"

"Not quite," Marbles answered, "Its the blueprint to an invention I'm working on. A few weeks ago I was thinking back to a math lesson from middle school about symmetry. And it came to me, what if I could design a machine that would automatically make symmetrical products?"

"Well I fail to see how that will help you with your bookshelf lad," Archimedes replied.

"Look at my bookshelf Archimedes," Marbles said pointing at it, "You can just vaguely see that one side is longer than the other. That's mainly why I'm having difficulty with it. It will never look quite right."

"I think you're being a bit obsessive lad," Archimedes laughed, "But all the same, your idea would probably help out a lot of manufacturing companies."

"Precisely Archimedes," Marbles said, "I want to open my own factory with it where everything is built perfectly symmetrical. And after showing Mr. Williams my upgraded version of the Skwak Pad, he's vowed to help me my next product into the spotlight. Oh Archimedes I can see it now! This machine will change the future of cyberdustrial manufacturing forever!"

"What are you gonna call it lad?"

"The symmetrizer of course," Marbles answered.

Archimedes smiled. "Very original Marbles... Well I'm off to Poddleville now." He paused. "Don't you have a date with Ada tonight?"

Marbles gasped. He had completely forgot.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"He lent you his coat?! Oh how romantic!" Ada said over the phone.

It was 6:00 PM and Melissa had called Ada to tell her all about her encounter with Antoine.

"I was so ecstatic I thought I was going to faint!" Melissa said, "Oh Ada! He's so romantic..."

"Oh Melissa I believe you've been bit by the love bug," Ada teased.

Melissa sighed. "Do you think I'm being immature about this whole thing?"

"Even if you are, who cares?!" Ada exclaimed, "We're young. We can be a little immature if we want to be."

Just then Ada heard a knock at her door and immediately knew who it was.

"I have to go now Melissa," Ada said into the phone, "Marbles here for our date."

"Alright have fun you two," Melissa said on her end of the line, "And be safe."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye," Melissa said before Ada hung up on her end of the line.

Melissa went over to her study desk and pulled out a small compact computer she'd designed over the summer. If anyone whom had just met her saw it, they'd think she was ridiculous. What could anybody want with a computer small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand? That's what cy-phones with cybernet connection are for. But she had plans for this tiny device. She didn't have the money now, but whenever she did, Melissa planned to run experiments on spirit transfers.

"There has to be some way that someone can have their spirit taken back out of the computer and back into their bodies," she always argued.

But every time, nobody could see a way her idea could work.

"What body dear?" Margaret Lovelace had told her years ago, "The spirit transfer is done because the cyborg's body is either dead or near dead without hope of being fixed."

"It took this long for them to find a way to transfer someone's spirit from a body to a computer," Melissa's high school teacher said, "By the time they figure out how to reverse the process, the end of the cyber-world will probably be the next day."

"If we expect to have that happen Melissa," her Advanced Software Systems professor had said, "We'll to have to completely reformat the cyborg body first."

Melissa clenched her fists in frustration as she remembered all the mockery she'd received for her theory. Only her brother and her mother had ever agreed with her on the possibility of a reversed spirit transfer.

"I'll show them," Melissa said to herself as she analyzed her miniature replica of the Pompadorian king's mainframe, "I'll even do more than that. I'll enhance the abilities of living computers too. I will find a way to program them to teleport onto any surface just by thinking it. I'll make it so they can..."

Melissa's cy-phone rang and she got up from her chair to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hello?" said a masculine voice on the other end of the phone, "Is this Miss Melissa Benson?"

"Yes," Melissa answered, "Who is this?"

"This is Antoine Klemmons."

"Oh hello Antoine how are you?" Melissa asked politely, her electrical pulse racing.

"I'm very well," Antoine answered, "And you?"

"Quite well thank you."

"That's good," Antoine said nervously, "Um, I was wondering Melissa. Are you doing anything this weekend?"

Melissa had planned on doing more research on spirit transfer, but that could always wait. "No, not so far."

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out tomorrow afternoon?"

"Sure," Melissa said, knees shaking in excitement.

"Okay," Antoine said also shaking with excitement on the other end of the line, "What time and where should we meet?"

"How about 12:00 at the school newsstand?" Melissa suggested, "That way we can decide what we want to do."

"Sounds swell," Antoine said, "I'll see you then. Good night."

"Good night Antoine."

Melissa heard the phone line click and she knew he'd hung up. Putting the cy-phone back on her nightstand, jumped onto her bed and screamed into her pillow.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Marbles and Ada were on their way to the Cyber Museum of Science and Mathematics, the most famous museum in all of Cyberspace. A new exhibit had come out two weeks ago, and now that the crowds had died down, the couple saw this as a perfect opportunity to relax and possibly get some ideas for new inventions. However for the past hour they had been aimlessly driving in circles around Cyberspace.

"Marbles are you positive we are going the right way?" Ada asked her boyfriend for the hundredth time.

"Affirmative Ada," Marbles answered, his dialogue having more technical vocabulary since starting college, "My upgraded version of the Skwak Pads has an extra advanced GPS."

"But its saying there's no satellite connection here," Ada said pointing to the Skwak.

"Impossible!" Marbles exclaimed, "I-"

CRASH!

Their cyber-coupe suddenly collided with someone else's. It wasn't enough of a collision to damage either one permanently, but it was enough to send Marbles' cyber-coupe out of control. The two screamed as Marbles tried desperately to regain control of the cyber-craft before it landed somewhere very unfamiliar. The couple groaned in pain and looked around.

"Where are we?" Ada asked.

"I'm not sure Ada" Marbles answered, "But look! There's a sign over there!"

Ada looked in the direction her boyfriend was pointing. "Well isn't that convenient?"

The couple got out of the cyber coupe and walked toward the sign.

"You have landed in Mizz Arky's cyber triangle of doom," Marbles read from the sign, "Only Mizz Arky can open the lock. Enjoy rusting here. Hahaha."

"Mizz Arky?" Ada asked Marbles, "Who is that?"

"I'm assuming its that Ann Arky girl from the news, " Marbles said, "She's a mischievous teenager who has been uploading chaos everywhere. She even attacked Control Central. Half of the main control room was wiped out and they had to completely remodel eighty percent of the facility. All from this fifteen year old girl."

"You mean she's younger than us and has managed to trap us in some sort of geometrical prison?!"

"Afraid so my lady," Marbles sighed.

"Arky... Arky..." Ada repeated to herself, sure that she remembered the name, "Arky... MARBLES!"

"Yes Ada?"

"Archy was Francesca's last name!" Ada exclaimed, "And I remember se had a younger sister!"

"You don't suppose-"

"YES Marbles! Ann Arky is Francesca's younger sister," Ada concluded, "It makes perfect sense. She probably got her inspiration from Francesca."

"Well my lady," Marbles said, "It doesn't really matter right now where she downloaded her behavior from. What matters is how we are going to upgrade out of this place."

"Do you have your cy-phone with you?" Ada asked.

"Yes," Marbles answered as he pulled his cy-phone out and dialed Melissa. But...

"Signal negative," Marbles sighed.

"Well try Archimedes then," Ada suggested, "He said he was going to spend the weekend with his family didn't he?"

"Yes but I don't know where we are right now. Poddleville could be even further away than the university."

"Just try," Ada pleaded, obviously beginning to stress.

Marbles nodded and dialed Archimedes' number. Still no signal.

"Now what?!" Ada exclaimed throwing her hands up in the air and pacing in a circle around her lover, "What are we going to Marbles? We can't stay here forever! There has to be a way out! THERE JUST HAS TO!"

"ADA!" Marbles shouted, "Calm down. Everything is going to be fine... We'll just have to think our way out of this..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Location: Cyber University:

Melissa closed her diary and put it on top of her nightstand. It was 7:30 P.M and she desperately wanted to call Ada and tell her about Antoine calling her. But she knew that Ada and Marbles were probably still on their own date and didn't want to disturb them. She looked over at her work desk. For once, she simply didn't want to work on experiments or do research on anything. She wanted to just hang out with friends, but there was nobody to hang out with tonight. Ada and Marbles were on a date, Archimedes had gone home to Poddleville to celebrate his father's birthday and she had no really close friends on the Junior semi-campus. She sighed.

_"There must be somebody I can talk to!"_

It was then that Melissa remembered her portal software. She grabbed her purse and ran over to her laptop and typed in a few commands. Within seconds a portal appeared behind her and sent her off to The Forest.

Location: The Forest:

Melissa fell out of the portal and landed in a perfect relevé next to the stump of the tree where Bill lived. After two years of experimenting with portals, she was able to get them more and more precise in its location.

"Hey Melissa," the cyboid greeted having heard the gust of air and come down from his nest, "Nice landing there!"

"Thank you Bill," Melissa laughed.

"You usually come on Saturdays. What's the special occasion?"

"Oh I hope I'm not intruding on anything!" Melissa said, realizing she hadn't even done so mush as call before dropping in.

"Not at all," said Bill, "I've been bored stiff today. How are things?"

"Things are wonderful Bill! Remember how I texted you about the boy I danced with at the masked ball?"

Bill nodded.

"Well he wants to hang out with me tomorrow!" Melissa exclaimed and jumped up slightly.

"Well that's great Melissa! Congratulations!" Bill exclaimed. He paused then said, "Wait does that mean that we can't hang out tomorrow?"

Melissa's smile faded. "Oh. I don't suppose we can. But I don't know if we're going to be hanging out the whole day."

"Well," Bill suggested, "Just in case. Lets have as much fun as we can tonight. Did I ever tell you that there's a firefly show every night?"

"No you didn't," Melissa answered as her eyes lit up with excitement, "What do they do?"

"They fly really high up in the sky and make pictures with their lights. Its really cool. They should be starting soon so we better hurry."

"We can use my portals!" Melissa suggested.

Bill's color suddenly drained from his face. He had never been in a portal before. "Um... well... I don't know..."

"Don't be afraid Bill. I'll be right there with you."

"Afraid?! I'm not afraid!"

Melissa shot him a knowing look.

''Well... Maybe a little bit..." he admitted.

"Just hold my hand the whole time."

Bill took a deep breath. "Okay."

Melissa grabbed her portal remote from her purse and pressed the button for a portal to appear for them. Melissa and Bill stood back as it formed, to avoid being sucked in before they were ready. After Melissa had put the remote back in her purse, she held out a hand for Bill to hold. He took it and they jumped in.

Location: Ann Arky's "Triangle of Doom":

"Oh Marbles its been an hour and a half now! We'll never get out of here!" Ada exclaimed as they felt around the perimeter of the triangle for some sort of hidden door, "Goodness! How did we even end up in here?!"

"My hypothesis is that the cyber-coupe was pulled in by some sort of magnetic force within the area of the triangle which also would explain why we can;t get it off the ground," Marbles answered, "And message error Ada we will exit this program!"

Ada sighed. "Well I can't think of anything right now. I can't even see where the cyber-coupe fell from."

"Ann must have..." Marbles tried to come up with an snwer but couldn't, "Ann must be a very intelligent cyborg."

"Well its not like there are any torture chambers in here," Ada sighed, "We might as well just sit in the cyber-coupe and think of a way out tomorrow."

"Alright," Marbles said also sighing, at least there's a television in the back seat. I rented an Earth movie called TRON a few days ago."

"Oh Marbles that's the most ridiculous movie ever made!" Ada exclaimed as they took the long walk back to their cyber-coupe.

"You really think so?" Marbles asked, "I'd conclude its my favorite work of cinema."

Ada rolled her eyes. How could he like a movie that was so inaccurate? Suddenly she tripped over something. She looked down to see the rusting corpse of a dead cyborg. She screamed and clung to her boyfriend tightly.

"Ada what are you screaming about?!" Marbles yelled. His girlfriend pointed down at the body. He turned paled at the sight.

"It would appear this prison of hers has been here a while," Marbles said, his voice trembling in fear.

"We must upgrade out of here tomorrow!" Ada exclaimed, "We simply must!"


	26. Chapter 26

Hello everyone. Hope you guys had a wonderful Fourth of July. I KNOW I did. Sorry this chapter took so long. But here it is...

* * *

**~Chapter Twenty-Six~**

Location: Ann Arky's Triangle of Doom:

Dawn came at 6:30 A.M. and Marbles woke up to see that his girlfriend was still asleep. It had taken hours for her the two of them to go into sleep mode. Ada was panicking all night and Marbles had to stay up until 5:00 to try to calm her down. He was absolutely exhausted but figured he better get started on figuring a way out of this prison they had been trapped in.

_"Maybe if I determined the area of the triangle, that would help some."_

The sixteen-year-old searched through his glove box for some sort of tape measure, before realizing that it was no use. There couldn't possibly be a way for him to measure the entire triangle with the average tape measure. Looking to his Skwak pad he remembered a certain app on it that could scan their surroundings. But when he tried, he found that the Skwak pad also had no signal, which was something it would need to scan the triangular prison. Marbles sighed. There was only one way that this could be done. He would have to measure each side of the triangle using only his one-foot Skwak pad and then convert the measurements into cybermiles. But he was so tired already. How could he keep track of each foot? Surely there was some easier way, but he couldn't think of one now. And there wasn't much time to think about it. They had to escape before their friends, and especially his sister, realized they were missing.

_"Well," _the teenaged cyborg thought to himself, _"I suppose I better get started."_

Marbles tore a piece of paper from his research notebook and wrote a note to Ada on where to find him. After kissing his girlfriend on the forehead, he took his Skwak pad, got out of the cyber-coupe, and headed out to find a corner to start measuring on.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At 10:00 A.M, Ada woke from sleep mode to find Marbles not there. She immediately panicked until she saw the piece of folded up lined paper with her name on it.

_"My dear Lady Lovelace,_

_I have gone in the Eastern direction to measure the sides of the triangle with my Skwak pad. I know that it will probably take a while for me to complete the task and you will have woken up before I'm finished. However its the only way I can think of for us to exit this program._

_Whether I have completed it by sunset or not, I will return by then and start again tomorrow. For now. please just rest._

_-Marbles"_

But Ada couldn't leave her lover alone in this mysterious place. Neither of them had the slightest clue what sorts of dangers Ann Arky had hidden throughout the prison. She immediately got out of the cyber-coupe in search of him. But it took quite some time. This was no small triangle, that much was true. It had to be at least the size of a grocery store plus its parking lot and there were all sorts of aging grass and half dead trees looming about. Ada ignored the fear that was creeping into her circuits and kept going. After about two hours, she found her boyfriend kneeling on th grass as he measured one of the sides of the triangle.

And wasn't very far from the beginning of the side.

Ada cleared her throat loudly causing Marbles to jump slightly and turn around.

"Ada I told you to wait for me to come back."

"Well I refuse to leave you out in this strange place alone dear," Ada remarked.

Marbles sighed. "Alright. But only if you'll help me out with this," he said handing Ada a piece of paper, "I've been using this to keep track of how many feet I''ve measured. I'll measure and you record the number with a tally."

"No Marbles," Ada argued, "I'll do the measuring. You've had enough of straining your knees by now."

"Why must you be so difficult?!"

Ada glared at him and he sighed again, getting up to grab the paper. "Fine."

Location: Cyber University:

Melissa rode her bike to the school newsstand with anticipation. She had taken forever to fall into sleep mode last night but at last she closed her eyes around 4:00 A.M. She spent the whole of her morning getting ready, deciding whether she should dress casually or formally. In the end she decided that she didn't want to look desperate and she threw on a simple grey sweater dress that had elbow length sleeves and loose turtle neck. The hem came just above her knees with black stockings covering her long legs. And this time she remembered her coat and hat too.

When she arrived at the newsstand, Antoine wasn't there just yet so she went ahead and bought a newspaper. As she looked though the headlines she tried to find something either on their campus or a nearby cybersite that was enjoyable AND affordable. She didn't know much about Antoine's likes and interests though, so it was a struggle. Amongst the events that caught Melissa's personal interest were a school play, a tour of cybersite Aquarium, the school art exhibit, a science fair, and an ice-skating rink in Penguia that was half price for college students.

"Hello Melissa," a voice said from behind her. Melissa turned around to see Antoine dressed in a white sweater and beige pants. To most men, this would be considered a semiformal look, but for Antoine it was just casual.

"Hello Antoine," Melissa said curtsying gracefully, "You look rather nice today."

"Thank you," Antoine replied, "You look very lovely yourself."

Melissa smiled and shrugged her shoulders embaressed. Antoine smiled back. He never had seen such a strikingly beautiful woman and was sure he never would again. The two remaineed gazing at each other timidly until Antoine finally broke the ice.

"I see you have a copy of the school newspaper already," he said noticing the paper in her hands, "Have you found anything of interest."

"Well... yes," Melissa answered nrvously, "But I don't know what your interest are. So I'm not sure if you would like them."

Antoine gestured for her to hand him the paper, which she did. As he looked through the newspaper he saw a variety of things that caught his interest too.

"Do you like art?" he asked upon seeing the ad for the campus art exhibit.

"Very much so," Melissa answered, "I take it you've found the ad for the art exhibit?"

Antoine nodded. "Would you like to go?"

"Yes," Melissa answered, "That would be nice."

"Great," Antoine said and looked down at his watch, "We better hurry though. We're already late."

Location: Ann Arky's Triangle of Doom:

"Five hundred thousand forty-three cyber-feet," Marbles said to Ada as she wrote down another tally.

"Marbles you've been at this for how long now?"

Marbles looked at his watch. "Four hours."

"There must be another way we can do this," Ada sighed.

"Unfortunately there isn't," Marbles said as he continued measuring, "Five hundred thousand forty-four."

"Marbles really?"

"Ada I'm just as frustrated as you are but we don't have many other options... Five hundred thousand forty-five.'

"Isn't there anything longer we could use?" Ada asked as she wrote down another tally.

Marbles thought about the question. If they could find something longer, he could measure it with his Skwak pad and then us it to measure the rest of the triangle side.

"Go look for a straight tree branch," Marbles told his girlfriend, "I'll keep measuring and recording."

For about 45 minutes Ada searched for a long enough branch, but none of them were completely straight. But then she ran across something that nearly made her scream again. It was another dead cyborg.

"Oh dear," Ada said repulsed by the sight, "This is going to be us if we don't do something soon."

Then the idea came to her mind. It was disgusting, but they would just have to.

Location: Cyber University:

"That's one of the most life-like sculptures I have ever seen," Antoine said as he and Melissa came across a clay sculpture of the school's president.

"Indeed it is," Melissa agreed, "Not many cyborgs can make a sculpture look so close to the real thing."

Antoine smiled and they continued walking through the exhibit until a painting caught his eye.

"Well that's a rather interesting painting," he said pointing to it.

Melissa turned to where he was staring. The painting was titled _Gateway to Another Dimension_ and depicted one of the many black holes in Cyberspace. It was like her portals, only this painting was dark and intimidating as opposed to the fairy-like pinkness of her portal.

"They have indeed speculated that black holes may lead to another dimension," Melissa pointed out.

"Yes," Antoine agreed, "If only there was a way to find out without the risk of never returning."

Melissa was silent a moment, wondering if it was safe to tell him about her portal experiments. No, not yet. At least not all of it.

"There might be a way actually," she said simply.

Just then Melissa's cy-phone rang, the caller ID reading Archimedes. Normally she would've turned off the volume. But something told the eighteen-year-old cyborg that this call NEEDED to be answered.

"Would you excuse me Antoine?" Melissa asked feeling rather embarrassed, "I need to take this call."

Antoine nodded, feeling secretly disappointed from assuming this Archimedes man was her boyfriend.

"Hello Archimedes" she said answering the call, "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know Melissa," the seventeen-year-old answered on the other line, "I came back from Poddleville a couple of hours ago and Marbles wasn't here. At first I thought he was just out with friends, but after an hour I called him to ask him something and my cy-phone said the number was outta reach. Then I called Ada to see if she knew where he was and the same thing happened. So I decided to visit her in person."

"And?" Melissa asked, beginning to worry.

"Her roommate hasn't seen her since she left for her date with Marbles!"

"WHAT?!" Melissa exclaimed into the phone, causing Antoine to now worry also, even though he didn't yet know what for.

"And she says that she's been unable to call Ada," Archimedes added.

"Oh my gosh Archimedes!" Melissa said trying not to make everyone at the art exhibit hear her, "What if they're hurt?! Or worse, what if they're..."

"I know," Archimedes said over the phone, "That's why I called you Melissa. We can't waste any time. We need your portals."

"Alrgiht," Melissa said, "I'm at the art exhibit right now and I'll leave immediately. Just go ahead and I'll meet you there."

Melissa hung up her end of the line and turned to Antoine.

"Is everything okay Melissa?" Antoine asked.

"My brother and his girlfriend are missing," Melissa answered in a shaking voice, "That was just his roommate. He can't find him or contact him. I'm very sorry Antoine, but I have to go now."

"Wait Melissa," he said grabbing her arm as she walked away, "Let me help you."

"Antoine I appreciate your concernn but-"

"Please."

Melissa looked into his emerald-green eyes and could tell he was just as concerned as she was. And she knew that she would need all the help she could possibly get. However this would mean telling her secret about portals. Still...

"Alright," Melissa sighed, "But please hold any questions for later."

Antoine nodded in agreement and the two walked quickly out of the art exhibit and over to Melissa's bike.

Location: Ann Arky's Triangle of Doom:

"Seven hundred thousand," Marbles sighed as he recorded the number in his notebook.

It had been two and a half hours since he sent Ada off to find a tree branch. He hoped she wasn't lost. That was the last thing that needed to happen to the two of them now. Just then he heard his name being called out by a feminine voice. He turned around to see a heavily breathing Ada dragging the body of a dead cyborg.

"Ada what in Cyberspace do you think you are-"

"I know its crazy and disgusting Marbles," Ada interrupted, "But its the best we've got. This woman must be at least five feet tall. We can use her body to measure with."

Marbles smirked as he stared at the female cyborg's corpse. She couldn't have been dead for more than about half a week, for all her features were still discernible. In fact, she actually looked very familiar.

"Alright let me measure her," he said marking a line where he'd left off and picking his skwa up from the ground. Using the device, he was able to find her height to be exactly five cyber-feet.

"Five cyber-feet tall exactly," Marbles announced, "That means we can get this done five times as fast."

With that he gave Ada the notebook and he placed the body in a straight line with her feet touching the line which marked where Marbles had left off.

"Seven hundred thousand five cyber-feet," Marbles said to Ada.

"Now we're sure to be done with this side of the triangle by sunset," she said as she wrote a tally, "Just as long as it isn't another seven thousand cyber-feet."

* * *

Again, many thanks to Kawaii Stella and Kristianja Pantoflii for helping me through my writer's block. Check out their stories if you haven't already.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review! :)


	27. Chapter 27

**~Chapter Twenty-Seven~**

Location: Cyber University:

"You can do what?!" Antoine exclaimed as the followed behind Melissa on her bike.

"I can make portals," Melissa repeated. She decided she might as well tell him what was about to happen while they were on their way to her dorm.

"But even the wizards at Frogsnorts can't do that!"

"It doesnt't require magic Antoine," Melissa replied, "You'll see what I mean when we get there and I'll answer any questions you may have once we've found my brother and his girlfriend."

Antoine nodded quietly though he knew Melissa couldn't see him behind her. He had learned years ago that its best not to question a woman too much and he certainly didn't want to agitate the woman he was trying to impress. When they finally got to the dorm building, Archimedes was already waiting for Melissa and was surprised to see a strange man with her.

"Archimedes, Antoine. Antoine, Archimedes," the girl said quickly upon seeing the confused look on her friend's face.

"Why is he here though Melissa?" Archimedes asked as Melissa swiped her hand to let them all in her dorm, "You don't really intend on letting someone in on this secret do you?"

"Right now we need to find Marbles and Ada, not worry about secrets," Melissa whispered as she opened the door, "Besides, we need all the help we can get."

Archimedes nodded silently and the three of them walked into Melissa's dorm. She walked over to her laptop and began to print a few pictures.

"The first place we need to go is the museum," she said to the two young men, "I'm printing out three copies of a photo of them so that we can ask tour guides and security guards if they've seen Marbles and Ada."

"Alright," Archimedes said and Antoine nodded in agreement.

Melissa gave each of them a photo copy before typing in the portal commands.

"Now Antoine," Melissa said turning to the older boy as the portal appeared, "I know you've never done this before. Are you sure you wish to follow through with this?"

Antoine stared nervously at the portal as Archimedes jumped into it. He was afraid that he'd end up some place else, but he knew Melissa must have been doing this type of stuff for a while. She knew what she was doing.

"I'm sure Melissa."

Melissa smiled and nodded. "Let's go then," she said grabbing his hand, "Its about to close on this end."

With that, the two jumped in.

Location: Cyber Museum of Science and Mathematics:

Archimedes landed on his bac in a deserted part of the museum's parking lot.

"Where are those two?" he asked aloud noticing that Melissa and Antoine weren't there.

"Look out!" a male voice said from above him and before Archimedes could look up, the two landed on top of him and knocked him over. **(A/N: When has that not happened in the show?)**

"Oh," Melissa said as she got off of her friend, "Our apologies Archimedes." She paused, then added humorously, "Though you should know by now to get away from the portal opening the moment you land!"

Antoine laughed and Archimedes rolled his eyes at Melissa.

"There's not much time," Melissa stated, her tone of voice serious again, "We don't know what has happened to Marbles and Ada and for all we know they could be near death by now. Enough with the laughs, we have to find them!"

"You're the one who st-"

"Later Archimedes!" Melissa snapped at him in a tone she rarely, if ever, used.

Archimedes backed away from his friend. "Okay," he said quietly.

Melissa nodded. "Let's go!" she said as she ran towards the front doors of the museum.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sorry sir. Never saw either of them around here," a security guard told Antoine upon being asked of Marbles' and Ada's whereabouts.

After much begging and pleading, the three young cyborgs were allowed into the museum free of charge, so long as they were only there to get information on the couple. They had split up and were each accompanied by a security guard to be sure they weren't taking advantage of anything. It had now been two hours since they started and not a single employee Antoine asked had seen the couple the previous night.

"That's all of this part of the museum," Antoine's security guard said, "Why don't you go back to the lobby and wait for your friends?"

Antoine sighed. "Alright."

"I'm sorry kid," the security guard said as they walked toward the stairs, "I wish there was more we could do for you three. Have you called the police yet?"

"No," Antoine answered, "But I'm sure Melissa will do that. She seems to care about them a lot."

The security guard was silent as they walked down to the lobby.

"You seem to care about her a lot too," the guard finally said.

Antoine blushed. Was it really that obvious?

"Well... yes," he answered shyly.

"You haven't told her yet have you?" the guard said giving him a look.

Antoine shook his head no.

"You know kid," the guard explained, "When I was your age I had a huge crush on a friend of mine. But I never told her. To this day, I still wish I had. Because I never did meet anyone quite like her."

"Really?"

The guard nodded. "Its, of course, not often that you find your soulmate at this age. But still, don't keep it a secret forever. You never know. After this situation is over, and you've gotten to know eachother a little better, if you still have these feelings I recommend telling her."

Antoine smiled and nodded respectively. The gesture was returned. Just then, Antoine saw Melissa and her security guard come towards him from one direction and Archimedes with his securtiy guard come from another.

"Any luck for you two?" Antoine asked as he ran over to them.

The two sadly shook their heads no. A single tear fell from Melissa's eye, but she quickly wiped it away before anybody could see it. Well, everybody except Antoine that is.

"We'll find them Melissa I promise," Antoine said lightly grasping her shoulders only to let go of them once he realized what it looked like.

"Yes Melissa," Archimedes agreed, "You've no need to worry."

"No need to worry?!" Melissa exclaimed, "How can you say that Archimedes?!"Suddenly an unnecessary feeling of guilt ran through her circuits. "Oh this all my fault! I should've called. I always call at some point to make sure they're alright! Why didn't I this time?! Why didn't I-"

Archimedes slapped Melissa across the face, snapping her out of it.

"I'm sorry Melissa," he said now feeling guilty himself, "But you must calm down. We'll call Control Central and have them issue a cyberwide search."

"NO!" Melissa exclaimed then brought her tone down to a whisper again, "You know that we can't let Cyberspace know Marbles and I are still alive. You-know-who will be on us immediately!"

"What if we just told them about Ada then?" Antoine suggested, "Nobody is after her right?"

"That's true Antoine," Melissa acknowledged, "And suely if they find Ada they'll find Marbles too." She pulled out her cyphone. "I'll inform Control Central at once."

Location: Ann Arky's Triangle of Doom:

"Eight hundred thousand cyber-feet!" Marbles shouted with relief as the foot of the cyborg corpse touched the end of the triangle's side, "We're finally finished with side one Ada!"

"Its about time old chum!" Ada sighed, "But must we continue measuring the other sides today? Its already taken this long to measure just one side. And we have to walk back to the cyber-coupe before sunset."

"We'll begin the measuring the next side tomorrow then," Marbles said, "I believe I still have a case of bottled water from the last time I went to the grocery store. So as far as survival we should be alright."

Marbles picked up the dead body and carried it as he and Ada walked towards the area where the cyber-coupe had crashed. It was only 5:00 P.M where they were, but it would take time to get back to the cyber-coupe.

By 7:00, the couple had made it back to the vehicle, just as the sun was beginning to set. Marbles opened the passenger door for his girlfriend and then opened the truk of the cyber-coupe to find that he had indeed left a case of water there.

_"For once being lazy pays off," _he thought as he took out two bottles.

Marbles walked over to the driver's side and opened the door to get in.

"Here you are my lady," he said as he handed a water bottle to Ada.

"Oh thank you dear," she said taking the bottle, "You have no idea how thirsty I've been today."

"Believe me. I do," Marbles said and took a sip.

Ada bushed. She forgot that Marbles was just as unfortunateas her at the moment, if not more.

"Do you think our roommates have discovered yet that we're missing?" she asked.

"Most likely," Marbles answered, "Archimedes said he'd return from Poddleville at noon today and surely your roommate started to worry long before that."

"I'm trying to imagine Melissa's reaction."

Mables sighed at the thought. "Oh she's probably half out of her circuits by now."

The couple laughed at his comment before going silent as they watched the sunset.

"You know Marbles," Ada said, "For trapping us in a prison with little to no way of escape, at least Ann had the curtusy to allow the sunlight in."

"Yes," Marbles agreed and kissed his girlfriend on her forehead, "We at least have the sunset."

Location: Cyber University:

"I know," Melissa said into her cy-phone, "I'm scared too. It hasn't been confirmed yet that Abaddon is dead so we could only let Control Central issue a search for Ada... Oh please do... Alright, goodbye."

Melissa disconnected the call and lay her cy-phone onto her desk. She, Antoine, and Archimedes were all in her dorm room. Not long ago television screens across Cyberspace displayed a missing persons alert for Ada and Margaret Lovelace had called Melissa in a state of pure panic. Melissa, still very nervous herself, was able to calm the older woman somewhat.

"What did she say Melissa?" Archimedes asked, him and Antoine sitting on the edge of her bed.

"She and Nanny are going to drive around Helping Hand Land to see if they've somehow ended up there. Miss Lovelace is covering the North and Nanny the South."

"That's good," Antoine replied.

"Well Melissa," Archimedes said, "I really do need to get back to my dorm now."

"Of course," Melissa replied and began preparing a portal for him, "Thank you for your help."

"Anytime," the seventeen-year-old answered as the portal formed and sucked him right in.

"Would you like me to open up a portal for you too Antoine?"

Antoine shook his head. "I don't have anywhere to be. I just want to know that you'll be alright."

"Oh I'm sure I will be," Melissa replied, "Its Marbles and Ada that I worry about."

"I'm sure God will be with them," Antoine replied.

Melissa nodded in agreement. "Will you pray with me?" she asked.

"Of course."

Antoine walked over to Melissa and they joined their hands in prayer, knowing the Lord would answer them.

* * *

Sorry these chapters are taking longer these days guys. I've recently been doing artwork to go along with the story in addition to working on the chapters. They're nothing special really, just drawings of the characters. Eventually I'll put them on DeviantArt.

Please review. I'm always interested in what my readers think. And let me know, who is your favorite character so far?

See you in the next chapter :)


	28. Chapter 28

**~Chapter Twenty-Eight~**

Another two days had passed since Marbles' and Ada's disappearance. Pictures of Ada were all over stores on the missing cyborgs bulletin and her roommate called her cy-phone number every day, in hopes that she might just answer. Archimedes was doing likewise, while Melissa lacked sleep worrying over the two. When Antoine saw Melissa in class on Monday, he could see the lack of sleep all over her. He didn't know Marbles or Ada, but he could feel her pain somehow.

Seeing Melissa in pain put him in pain...

That afternoon around 6:00, Antoine decided to go check on Melissa.

"Brian," Antoine said as he threw his jacket on, "I'm going to go visit Melissa."

"You seem to be more into her every day," Brian said looking up from his homework.

"Its not about impressing her right now," Antoine replied, "She's going through a hard time. I'm worried about her."

Brian smiled. "You really are a mature dude. I'm proud of ya man."

Antoine smiled back at his roommate, then opened the door and left.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Melissa was knelt down at the edge of her bed in prayer.

Ever since she found out Marbles and Ada were gone she had been fasting and praying, as well as trying to install some sort of advanced tracking system into her laptop. But she soon realized the latter of the two was pointless since she did not know Ada's ID code1 and had forgotten Marbles' ID code long ago. Not only that, but the laptop was nowhere near advanced enough to carry out such a task. Such a tracking system could only fit into the most advanced computers known to Cyberspace...

Supercomputers...

Melissa was so deep in prayer that at first she didn't hear the knocking at her door. On the second knock, she closed her prayer with an "Amen" and answered the door. She smiled when she saw Antoine's face.

"Antoine what a surprise!" she exclaimed and opened the door wider so he could come in, "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Antoine answered politely, "I wanted to check on you though. I know that this is still bothering you. You look as if you haven't slept in a while."

"I haven't," Melissa replied, "All I can think about is Marbles and Ada. I'll be in sleep mode for about an hour and then have horrible nightmares that wake me up and keep me up."

Antoine's smile faded. He felt so bad for her.

"I've also been hard at work trying to design a tracking system for my laptop," she continued, "But it simply isn't designed for such functions." She then laughed lightly and went to sit in her desk chair. "I remember when I was a little girl, I used to daydream of being a computer program so I could have a greater capacity for knowledge."

"That's cute," Antoine said smiling weakly.

Melissa returned the gesture. "Its times like this that I still wish it. The 20th Grand Posha was able to track cyborgs just by thinking it. Computer-cyborg programs can do a lot of thigs in fact, just by thinking them."

Antoine nodded in agreement. "That's true yes. But what about all the things you wouldn't be able to do. You couldn't dance or feel the sun's warmth or-"

"Or climb trees," Melissa laughed.

"You climb trees?"

Melissa nodded. "Every now and again."

Antoine smiled. "Anyway, from what I've been taught though, there have only been three spirit transfers in the history of Cyberspace."

Melissa nodded again. "The 20th Grand Posha of Pompadoria was first. Not long after him, they transferred the king of Happily-Ever-After-Ville. And the last cyborg to be transferred into a computer program was Mayor Cubic of Memoryville."

"Wow," Antoine said in amazement, "You seem to know a lot about this stuff."

Melissa laughed. "Well I major in Computer Science too, remember?"

"Oh yes that's right," Antoine replied, "So what else do you know about it?"

"Well," Melissa began, "I know the Grand Posha didn't like it much. Since a supercomputer has the ability to sustain life far longer than a cyborg body, he ended watching all his loved ones die, without even being able to hug them one last time."

"So I've heard," Antoine said, "And didn't he eventually die from a computer virus?"

"Not eventually," Melissa answered, "Immediately."

Antoine eyes widened. He knew the Grand Posha had died from it, but he never realized how severe it was.

"Yes," Melissa continued noticing his facial expression, "His technician claimed to have heard an ear-piercing screech from the Posha's chamber. When he ran in, the Posha's computer system was shut down and no matter what his technician did, the system could not be rebooted. When he examined the inner circuitry he found evidence of breech virus."

"What's that?" Antoine asked.

"A rare virus which can only be activated by opening a breech in Cyberspace, almost like creating a black hole. Its a near impossible task, which is why the virus is so rare. But its the second deadliest, next to logic busters."

"I see."

"The technician guessed that the Posha's scream was due to the virus inflicting physical pain," Melissa continued, "But nobody believed him. It was deemed impossible because a computer system doesn't have nerve endings. But when the king of Happily-Ever-After-Ville got a virus sent to him by cybermail, he complained of being in pain every time his screen would static and that it constantly felt like someone was tearing apart his inner circuitry... And he was tired all the time."

"How long did he survive?" Antoine asked.

"A month."

"Goodness," Antoine exclaimed, "These viruses seem pretty difficult to survive."

"That's why they invented the Encryptor Chip," she explained, "It has the ability to eliminate almost any virus without having to wipe the computer's memory, which would in turn delete the program they're within."

"So did it work?" Antoine asked.

"Yes," Melissa answered, "Mayor Cubic was also sent a virus through cybermail. His encryptor chip cured him immediately."

"So... What happened to him?"

"I said most viruses, not all," Melissa answered, "At the very beginning of Abaddon's rebellion, one of his first moves was sending the Mayor the strongest logic buster in recorded history. Both his firewall and encryptor chip combined could not stop it. Just like the Grand Posha, his death was instant."

"Wow," Antoine said again, only this time from shock, "I can see why there are so few leaders willing to go through with it."

"Yes," Melissa replied, "Its only done when there's no other option. Like with the Mayor, nobody was willing to take his place at the time. Everyone loved him too much."

"I know," Antoine replied, "My Professor last year mentioned it." He paused then added, "Any explanation as to why their first initial ad ID code appears like a bar code on the right side of their face?"

Melissa shook her head no. "And there isn't an explanation to the parenthesis mark on the left side either. Nor why the backs of their eyes are yellow. It just happens that way."

"A lot of things seem to change about there appearances once they're transferred."

"The longer the memory chip required for the process stays inactive, the more likely some appearances will be altered," Melissa replied then smiled, "But I'm afraid we've gone completely off topic."

Antoine laughed. "You're right. We have."

Melissa smiled sadly. "I don't know what to do. I just want to know they're safe."

Antoine hugged her tightly. "Don't worry. Everything will work out."

Location: Ann Arky's Cyber Triangle of Doom:

"Five hundred fifty thousand cyber feet Ada," Marbles said as she recorded the numbers, "We're almost done with the last side."

"But what are we going to do then Marbles?" Ada asked, "I have failed to see how determining the length of the triangle will help us upgrade out of here."

"Five hundred fifty five thousand cyber feet," Marbles announced before saying, "Nor have I Ada. But have you or I uploaded a better idea?"

Ada said nothing. She just glared and continued recording. Since the remainder of side three was shorter than the body they were using, Marbles measured the rest with his Skwak pad.

"Five hundred fifty seven thousand cyber feet," Marbles said, "That makes one hundred five and a half cyber miles. Now maybe we can exit this program permanently."

"Let us hope so."

The two walked back to the cyber-coupe where they looked over their notes.

"So side one was one hundred fifty one and a half cyber miles?" Marbles checked with his girlfriend as he reviewed the numbers recorded in his Skwak pad.

"Affirmative dear," Ada answered.

"Side two?" he asked.

"One hundred seventy cyber miles."

"And the third side was one hundred five and a half cyber miles," Marbles said as he entered in the new data.

"So now what?" Ada asked.

"Well..." Marbles began the noticed something, "Backspace Ada. There's some sort of error here."

Ada rolled her eyes. "So we have to start again?!"

"Maybe not." He was catching on to something. "Ada? You remember yesterday how we said this was clearly a right triangle?"

"Yes Marbles," she answered, "It was so obvious that even if we didn't measure we would know so."

"Well according to our calculations, these measurements don't fit the Pythagorean Theorem."

Ada groaned in frustration.

"Backspace Ada," he said once more, "This could be our way out."

"Have you lost your marbles Marbles?!" Ada exclaimed. **(A/N: *wink* *wink*)**

Marbles frowned. "You're mocking me aren't you?"

"Maybe," Ada said teasingly.

Marbles rolled his eyes. "Well no. I am perfectly sane, thank you very much. As I was saying, the hypotenuse should be approximately one hundred eighty four point six cyber miles. But we measured one hundred seventy cyber miles."

"And?" Ada was very confused at this point.

"Don't you see Ada?!" Marbles exclaimed, "There has to be something where those fourteen point six cyber miles are. She had to have made some sort of illusion. There's probably an escape route."

Ada smiled. "Marbles you're a genius!" she said and kissed him, "We'll be out of here tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"It will be dark soon," Ada said crossing her arms, "Do you really think it wise wandering around here in the dark."

"I suppose you are right my lady," he sighed.

"Of course I'm right," she smiled.

The two were silent again as they relaxed, Ada writing in the poetry book she never left her dorm without, while Marbles played solitaire on the Skwak pad. It was an app that he had only recently installed, well invented pretty much, and was glad he did. Otherwise, he'd be bored stiff.

"Marbles?" Ada asked suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"Don't you think that cyborg we've been measuring looks very familiar?"

"Its funny you should say so Ada," Marbles answered, "I was thinking the same thing the moment I saw the body. In my opinion, she looks a like a slightly older version of Ann Arky herself."

"I've never seen Ann Arky though," Ada pointed out, "So how would I recognize her?"

"True my lady," Marbles acknowledged. Suddenly a disturbing thought came to his mind. "Ada, could it be?..."

Ada waited for him to finish. But she then realized what he was thinking and in turn realized how it made sense.

Her eyes widened. "Francesca!"

Location: A Distant Uninhabited Cybersite:

Abaddon sat in front of his television, watching the news like always. It had been years since his last failed attempt at claiming Cyberspace. He was beginning to not see a point in trying, but at the same time he couldn't give up. He was at a point where he was so filled with evil and hatred, it would rule over him until his dying days. Even now, with only a few cyborgs left from his rebellion group, he was still determined to overthrow Williams, or any rulers that would come after him. Or if nothing else, take his anger from being defeated out on the cyber world.

"Sir," General Biff said from the open door, "One of our men spotted some cyborgs around here from the periscope2. I presume they've discovered our territory for the first time."

"WELL?!" Abaddon yelled, "You all know what to do by now. SHOOT THEM!"

"Yes sir," General Biff said and ran out of the room.

"What fools!" Abaddon said to himself, turning back to the television screen.

On the news was a report about a recent mis-happening in Happily-Ever-After-Ville.

_"-I'm here at Happily-Ever-After-Ville," the reporter said, "Speaking with Little Bow Peep, whom just had a terrible encounter with the infamous Ann Arky. This morning the cyborg broke into her barn and stole her sheep."_

_The reporter gestured for the crying girl to take the mic and speak into it._

_"I heard a loud banging at around 7:00 A.M," the fairytale cyborg said wiping her eyes, "I went into the barn and all my sheep were gone! And there was a note nailed to the back of the door."_

_"The note," said the reporter as the screen showed a close-up of it, "read: 'Your precious sheep are mine for five hours. Don't worry you'll get them back, but they'll have a wonderful new makeover thanks to the queen of chaos. -yours truly, Mizz Arky.'"_

_Abaddon's right eye brow raised in interest as the news reporter kept talking._

_"Sir," General Biff said coming back from following his boss' order._

"SHUSH!"

_"Arky turned out to be partially telling the truth," said the reporter, "The sheep came back, but the makeover wasn't exactly wonderful."_

_"At noon I came back to the barn and my sheep were all painted purple and 'Mizz Arky' was shaved onto all their backs," Bow Peep explained as the news show filmed the now purple sheep."_

_"It is unknown what this rebellious teenager's motives are," the news reporter said coming back on the TV screen, "People have thought that she was after cyber-world domination, but in a blog she posted on her website, she stated 'There is nothing I want out of you pathetic losers. I don't want Cyberspace, or money, or jewelry. I just wanna make chaos.' More on this story later, now here's Winter Gale with the weather."_

Abaddon turned the TV off and he and his right hand man were silent awhile.

"The kid has spunk," General Biff noted, breaking the silence.

"And she's just what we need," Abaddon added, an evil grin coming to his face.

"But-"

"SILENCE!" Abaddon shouted at the general, "Call Ann Arky and have her brought here at once. We have a lot to plan for..."

* * *

1 ID Code-What Slider used to track his dad and the encryptor chip in episodes 309-310 "Snelfu Snafu" parts 1 and 2.

2 Periscope- part of submarine that comes above the water for the captain to see the surface.

Let me know what you think. Another shoutout to Kawaii Stella and Kristianja Pantoflii. If you haven't read their works yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

See ya in the next chapter :)


	29. Chapter 29

**~Chapter Twenty-Nine~**

Marbles and Ada woke up at sunrise, like they had been since they got trapped three days ago. This time would be the last time they woke up in the triangular prison.

At least that's what they were hoping for...

"Do we have to get up now?" Ada whined, her eyes only half opened.

"Affirmative Ada," Marbles said, "The sooner we start looking for the exit, the sooner we can leave."

"Marbles?" Ada asked as she stretched, "I think we should take Francesca's body with us. She may have been mean, but she still has parents at home that are probably wondering what happened to her."

Marbles sighed. "I suppose you're right. And Ada, we don't really know if it is Francesca."

"She looks like her, she's dressed the same way Francesca used to dress outside of school."

"But why would Ann trap her own sister in here and not set her free?" Marbles reasoned, "Surely she comes around here sometimes."

"Well I remember I eavesdropped on one of Francesca's conversations once and-"

"YOU eaves-dropped?!" Marbles laughed.

"It wasn't on purpose," Ada remarked, playfully slapping her boyfriend's arm, "Anyway, she said something along the lines of hating her sister and always getting into fights with her."

"I see." Then Marbles thought back to the news reports he'd watched, "You know, I remember Ann's parents were once interviewed on the news. They said they had two daughters, including Ann. And that both of them were sent to reform school for their behavior."

"And?"

"They said their eldest daughter 'got her act together' but that Ann only got worse," Marbles continued, "They also said the whole Arky family was terrified of her."

"She's THAT out of control?!"

Marbles nodded. "Apparently."

"Then it would make even more sense for this to be Francesca," Ada said sadly.

The two were silent awhile, thinking of what possibly could cause someone to want to harm their own family. But alas, there are some people who are just evil beyond understanding.

"Well we better go my lady," Marbles finally said and opened his door, "Perhaps we can still make it to our evening classes if we're quick enough."

"Just as long as I can shower when we get back," Ada replied as she got out of the cyber-coupe as well.

Ada grabbed her and Marbles' belongings, knowing they probably wouldn't be able to come back to the vehicle, while Marbles lifted up the dead cyborg. With that, they were off.

Location: Cyber University:

Melissa's alarm clock rang at 6:45 A.M. and the eighteen-year-old screamed as she jolted into a sitting position. Panting, she looked around her dorm room which was slightly dimming from the rising sun and breathed a sigh of relief. Melissa had had yet another horrifying nightmare where Abaddon was holding her brother and best friend captive and there was, somehow, nothing she could do about it. Abaddon was just about to pull a trigger onto Marbles' head when she was freed from the horrible dream.

"Get a grip Melissa," she told herself as she tried to gain control of her shaking hands, "Its just a dream. It doesn't mean its real."

There was a knock at her door. Melissa got up out of bed, her knees also shaking from the dream and opened her door slightly. It was Artemis: a student from cybersite Mount Olympus, a cyborg designed after the mythological Greek goddess of the same name, and the girl whose dorm was right next to Melissa's.

"Hey honey," the slightly older cyborg said concerned, "Is everything ok? My roommate and I heard a scream."

"Oh everything is alright Artemis," Melissa said, "I just had a very vivid nightmare."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Artemis asked her acquaintance.

"No thank you," Melissa answered politely.

"You sure?"

"Yes," Melissa answered, "Thank you for your concern though."

Artemis gave a small smile and a polite nod and went back to her dorm next door. Melissa closed her door and went to her bathroom to take a shower. (in Cyberspace college dorms come with their own individual bathrooms). After she had finished she went to blow dry her hair.

_"She seems like a nice girl," _Melissa thought as she flipped her hair to dry the back of it, _"I really should hang out with her sometime."_

Melissa and Artemis had only talked a few times since the semester had started, but the twenty-year-old was very friendly.

_"Melissa!" Artemis had exclaimed when they first introduced themselves, "Like the Greek nymph that looked after Zeus when he was a baby!" _**(A/N: I honestly, truly didn't realize this until recently)**

_"Yes," Melissa had replied laughing slightly, "I have her name."_

Melissa smiled at the memory and then quickly glanced at her clock to read the time. 7:35. She decided to let the rest of her long hair drip-dry and quickly slipped on a dark brown sweater dress that had a tight turtle-neck and then put on knee high socks and beige ugg boots. Knowing her class was further away and she didn't have much time she decided to skip her usual make-up look and quickly applied plain lip gloss after brushing her teeth. She threw her pea-coat on, grabbed her book bag and purse, and left.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Melissa's last morning class ended at 11:50 A.M. and she wouldn't have another class until 1:00 P.M. She headed back to her dorm to see if she could get back at least some of the lost hours of sleep. As she rode her bike back she ran into Antoine.

"Hi Melissa," Antoine greeted politely, "Hear anything from Marbles and Ada?"

Melissa shook her head sadly.

"Don't worry," Antoine assured her again, "They'll turn up."

"I hope so," Melissa said sadly, "Thank you for the reassurance."

The two stood silently, both worrying in their minds what could've happened to the young couple. Antoine desperately wanted his friend to no longer be in such distress, nor did her professors whom had noticed the bags under her eyes and recent lack of attention. Melissa just wanted them back. She would've done anything, even lay down her own life for them. Then suddenly, her prayers were answered when her cy-phone rang. She took it out of her purse and nearly fainted with happiness when she saw Marbles' name on the caller ID.

"Its Marbles!" Melissa exclaimed, bringing a smile of relief to Antoine's face as she quickly hit the answer call button.

"Marbles what is going on?!" Melissa yelled into the phone, "Archimedes and I have been worried sick over you and Ada."

"Oh goodness Melissa," Marbles sighed on the other line, "Do calm do-"

"Don't you tell me to calm down!" she yelled on the verge of tears and not caring what the passing-by students thought of her outburst, "Where are you? Are you safe? Is Ada with you? ANSWER ME!"

"Yes Ada is with me! Yes we are safe right now. And we appear to have landed somewhere in Discardia," Marbles answered to all the questions, "We are next to the Forever Gone Ma-"

"Landed? Are you hurt? When did you-"

"I told you already Melissa! We're safe!" her brother interrupted, "Listen we'll explain everything when we get back. Can you make us a portal?"

"Yes," Melissa answered, beginning to calm down and then bringing her voice down to a near whisper, "Text me your ID codes and I'll have my laptop track you and open a portal at your exact location. I'll see you in ten minutes."

"Thank you Melissa."

"Good-bye," she said and hit end call. She turned to Antoine. "Come on! We have to get back to my dorm."

Melissa rode her bike at break-neck speed and Antoine ran as fast he could to catch up with her. When they arrived at the dorm building she quickly locked her bike to the bike rack and the two ran up the stairs to the second floor where she resided. Melissa hadn't been able to design a tracking system as advanced as she'd hoped for. But it was a tracking system nonetheless and, Discardia being only an hour or two away, it would be able to find them. Once she and Antoine were in her dorm room, Melissa ran over to her laptop and turned it on. She then grabbed her cy-phone out of her purse and opened the text message Marbles had sent. She typed in the ID codes and within five minutes, her laptop had tracked them. Melissa then opened a portal and out fell Marbles and Ada.

"You know Melissa," Marbles said as he and Ada got up, "That was actually twenty mi-"

Just then Melissa ran up to her brother and hugged them both tightly, stopping him midsentence.

"Uh... Melissa," Marbles said.

"Too... tight," Ada finished for him.

"I was so worried about you two," Melissa said through tears of joy as she loosened her grip, "I'm so grateful to have you back."

Antoine just sat on the bed smiling with relief to see the three reunited. Marbles noticed the nineteen-year-old and, not knowing about the ball his sister and girlfriend attended, asked who he was.

"This is Antoine," Melissa said gesturing for her friend to come closer, "He's from my History class and he and Archimedes have been helping me try to find you all this time."

"Pleasure to meet you Marbles," Antoine said shaking the younger boy's hand, "Glad to see that you're safe."

"And its a pleasure to see you again Antoine," Ada replied.

"Again?" Marbles asked, confused and just a tad bit jealous.

"I'll explain later dear," Ada said, giving her lover a quick peck on the cheek.

"Yes. After you explain exactly what happened to the two of you," Melissa remarked and then noticed the cyborg corpse that had accompanied the couple, "And also after you explain why there is a dead woman on my bed!"

Marbles and Ada looked at each other for a moment.

"Ladies first," Marbles said.

Location: A Distant Unknown Cybersite:

"What the heck do you want?" Ann Arky asked Abaddon snobbishly.

Ann had come at the cyborg's request, though she really had better things to do.

"I need your help Ann Arky," Abddon explained.

"That's MIZZ Arky to you," she interrupted placing one hand on her hip.

"Alright," Abaddon sighed, "Mizz Arky, I want you as my partner in crime. Join me and we'll-"

"Save it!" Ann snapped, "You are so pathetic! Do you know that?"

"Excuse me?" a confused Abaddon said. He had expected the fifteen-year-old to be flattered by his request.

"I said you're pathetic! You are 240 years old and you feel the need to get help with cyber domination from a teenager?! PLEASE!"

Abaddon just stood there clenching his fists. How dare she?!

"All I'm going to say," the rebellious teen continued, "Is that you need to just give up on cyber domination and just make people miserable. Channel all your anger of losing your ruler-ship and make this world a mess!"

With that the teenager snapped her fingers and vanished, leaving Abaddon stricken and General Biff standing in the corner, wondering what to do next.

Ugh! WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?!" Abaddon shouted at the general, "Insulting me like that!... But she's right."

"What do you mean sir?" Biff asked.

"I am pathetic!" the evil cyborg exclaimed, "I should've re-taken Cyberspace eons ago! Oh I give up!"

"Sir you CAN'T give up," the general argued, "That would mean-"

"I know what it would mean," Abaddon interrupted, "We'd have to reveal our location and be sentenced to death. And even then it wouldn't be over."

"What?" General Biff asked confused.

"Well for you and the rest of my posse it would be," Abaddon explained. But not for me. When I sold my soul 200 cyber-years ago, part of the agreement was that I'd have one last chance, after I die, to gain Cyberspace by possessing another cyborg's body. Then after that I will face my eternal punishment."

"Is there any turning back on this?"

"Of course there is," Abaddon answered, "But I don't want to turn back. I want Cyberspace even if I have to spend eternity burning as a consequence!"

General Biff backed further away from his boss. These were the times he was most scared of this soulless being. Abaddon continued thinking. Finally he came to what he believed to be a "rational" plan.

"Let's just follow the girl's advice," Abaddon said, "But this time, we'll be a bit more secretive."

"But I thought you said-"

"I CHANGED MY MIND!"

"Okay," General Biff said in a small voice.

"Now leave me alone," Abaddon ordered, "I need to think of a plan."

Location: Cyber University:

"And that's pretty much it," Marbles concluded.

He and Ada had just finished telling Melissa and Antoine their entire dilemma and why there was a dead woman with them.

"We need to find a better way to stay in touch," Melissa said, "I don't ever want this to happen again!"

"Its a shame we don't have those locaters the workers Mr. Williams' associates use," Ada said.

"I could try to design a replica," Marbles suggested.

"I think Melissa would very much appreciate that," Antoine laughed, "Wouldn't you?"

Melissa smiled and nodded.

Marbles glanced over at Melissa's clock. It was 1:30 P.M.

"Melissa?" he asked, "Could you open a portal for me in my dorm? If I'm fast enough I can still make it to my 2:00 class."

Melissa and Antoine looked at the clock and realized they had both missed their 1:00 class.

"I think I'm just going to take the rest of the day off," Melissa sighed and went to open a portal for her brother.

"I think that would be wise Melissa," Antoine replied and turned to the couple, "In case you haven't noticed she hasn't slept in days."

"Yes I see," Marbles said as a portal swirled before him, "I probably will take the day off after my 2:00 class as well."

With that he took Francesca's body and jumped into the portal.

"Well," Antoine said shyly, "I better get going too. Don't worry about making me a portal. I can just walk."

"Goodbye Antoine," Melissa said politely, "And thank you for your help."

Antoine smiled. "Anytime."

Ada watched him walk out the door and she turned to her friend.

"That's it?!"

"What's it?" Melissa responded.

"He helped you and was there for you all this time?" Ada asked.

Melissa nodded in response.

"Do you still like him?"

Melissa blushed and nodded again.

"You know what I'm going to say dear," Ada said.

"What?"

"Go after him," she said nudging Melissa, "This is the perfect opportunity.

"I don't know," Melissa said timidly, "We still haven't known each other very-"

"It doesn't matter," Ada said, "He obviously cares a great deal for you if he was willing to go out of his way to help and support you. NOW GO!"

Melissa stood up. "You're right," she said.

"Of course I am. Now go!"

Melissa walked out towards the door. "And feel free to go ahead and take a shower," she added knowing Ada desperately wanted one, "You can wear one of my outfits."

"Ok ok," Ada said quickly, "GO!"

With that, Melissa walked out the door and ran in the direction of Antoine dorm building.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Antoine walked towards his dorm. He was so relieved that the young couple was found and more relieved that his crush would finally get the rest she needed. He was starting to worry that all the stress would have a physical toll on her.

"They came just in time," Antoine quietly said to himself, "But if only I had-"

"Antoine!" a sweet, familiar voice called out.

Antoine turned around. "Melissa?" he said as the beautiful young girl ran up to him.

"I..." Melissa began nervously, "I wanted to just...uh... thank you ...one last time."

Antoine smiled. "Again, anytime."

Melissa smiled, though secretly she was regretting that she couldn't get the words out.

"Well," she said beginning to turn around and walk back, "I better get back to-"

But Antoine, in a spur of the moment, turned her back around and kissed her quickly, yet passionately on her lips. Melissa's cheeks turned bright red upon the contact as sparks of love flew through her circuits. As Antoine pulled back from the kiss he also turned red. From both embarrassment and love.

"I-I-I," he stuttered, "I apologize, I-"

But Melissa silenced him by kissing him back. And there was no need for further words. They now knew that their feelings for one another were returned. Still, they spoke anyway.

"I love you Antoine," Melissa said sweetly.

Antoine gently touched her cheek and smiled. "I love you too."

* * *

And that's chapter 29. I had a lot of fun writing this. Please please please review. Bye :)


	30. Chapter 30

**~Chapter Thirty~**

"Oh these must be the new clothes Melissa was talking about at the ball," Ada said as she found a few unfamiliar outfits in Melissa's closet.

She had just finished showering and had put on a pair of Melissa's pajamas. Now she was snooping through her friend's wardrobe.

"I must say though she's been gone so long I'm starting to think SHE got lo-"

Ada stopped talking to herself when the door opened and Melissa practically floated into the dorm room. The eighteen-year-old fell against the door and slid down with a sigh, her eyes full of stars. Ada laughed, bringing the girl back to her surroundings.

"Well I presume from the look in your eyes that it went well?" Ada said.

Melissa turned to her friend and smiled as her cheeks reddened again. In a quiet, but excited teenager voice she said:

"He kissed me!"

Ada cupped her hands over her mouth and let out a girlish squeal. Melissa did the same.

"Well what happened next?" Ada said excited.

"I kissed him back!" Melissa exclaimed as she got up.

The response, another pair of girlish squeals.

"Well go on," Ada urged, "Tell me everything that happened next!"

Melissa told her everything within ten minutes. She told Ada how they had both confessed their love for one another, how they had agreed to become a couple, and how they spent time in one of the campus courtyards talking about everything and nothing.

"Ah! So THAT'S why you took so long to come back!" Ada said.

Melissa shrugged her shoulders innocently. She then noticed what her friend had decided on wearing.

"You don't really intend on going to class in purple flannel pajamas do you?" She asked staring her up and down.

"Well I contacted the head chairman of the academically gifted campus," Ada explained, "And he said that since I've been missing, the school board will allow me today and tomorrow off so I can take time to readjust. They won't count it towards my attendance record."

"Lucky you," Melissa said, "Shame Marbles won't get the same treatment. Ugh! If Abaddon were just stopped we wouldn't have to be in hiding and we could've issued the search party for him too."

"Well... No use crying over spilt kryoxide dear," Ada replied.

"I suppose that's true," Melissa admitted.

"But are you sure you wish to take the rest of the day off?" Ada asked, "You know we only are allowed two absences for our major classes and three for general?"

"I'm sure Ada."

"But, Lissie, what if you get cyber-flu? Or some other illness?" Ada argued.

"Ada you know I have a practically indefeatable immune system," Melissa reminded her, "The last time I caught cyber-flu was three years ago and it lasted a day."

She paused. "And don't call me Lissie!"

"Sorry Melissa," Ada said. Everyone kept forgetting how much she hated the nickname her brother had come up with for her a year and a half ago.

Melissa's mood softened again as she thought of her new boyfriend. She lay back onto her bed with a sigh.

"Oh Ada," she said as her eyes became heavy with exhaustion, "I feel like a princess right now. He's just so perfect!"

"Mmhmm," Ada agreed, "And what shall you do if he starts calling you 'Lissie?'"

"He won't," Melissa said sleepily as she closed her eyes and yawned, "I'm sure he'll come up with a unique and wonderful pet-name for me."

"Oh?" Ada replied, "And just what did you have in mind?"

Melissa did not respond.

"Melissa?"

Still nothing.

"Lissie?" she teased.

But still she said nothing. Finally stress-free, the sleep-deprived cyborg had slipped into dreamland the moment her eyes closed. Ada smiled at the sleeping teenager. She took Melissa's shoes off and tucked her friend into bed.

"Sweet dreams Lissie," Ada whispered and went over to gather the few things she had brought from the cyber-coupe.

Ada had been taught how to use Melissa's portal remote shortly after it was invented, and even if she hadn't it was quite a simple process when compared to the portal software installed on Melissa's laptop. Rummaging through the girl's purse, she was able to locate the remote and portaled herself back to her dorm room. Luckily, Ada's roommate was at a class, so Melissa's invention was still a secret.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

But when her roommate returned at 5:00 P.M and saw Ada casually sitting at her desk writing a poem, she pratically attacked the girl with hugs.

"Oh Ada I was so worried about you!" she said still hugging the girl tightly, "I'm so glad you're safe!"

"I'm glad to be safe too Mandy," Ada gasped, "But could you please let go of me? I can't breathe!"

"Oh sorry," Mandy said letting go of her roommate, "But I expect you will be telling me what exactly happened to you."

Ada rolled her eyes. _"Here we go again."_

Earlier That Day:

Marbles' class ended at 2:50 P.M. He still had more classes but what was one more day off? He really needed to relax after all he and Ada had been through and, like Melissa, he rarely became ill. Such strong immune systems seemed to run in the Benson family.

Archimedes had reacted exactly the same way Melissa and Mandy had upon seeing his roommate and was most definitely confused about the body. In fact, that body was the main reason that Marbles was taking the rest of the day off. He had contacted the cyber-wide police about what had happened and asked them to come and investigate the body, feeling rather uncomfortable at the idea of carrying a dead body around the campus. Melissa portaled Ada to his dorm before the police arrived, so that she could provide insight also.

"So you kids suspect that this woman is Ann Arky's younger sister Francesca?" the head officer asked as he examined the corpse.

"That is correct sir," Marbles answered.

"That could be possible," the head officer replied, "Because Francesca had been pronounced missing for quite some time now."

"Now Miss Lovelace," the other officer began and turned to the teenaged girl, "You've been missing for... five days counting today, is that right?"

"Actually sir," Ada said, "We've both been missing. But the search only went out for me."

"Okay," the officer said writing sme notes down, "Thank you for relaying that information to us."

"Now please explain exactly what happened during this time," the head officer said.

Yet another lengthy conversation over their mishap ensued and by 4:30, the police had the information they needed. They wrapped the body in a white cloth to bring to a morgue and left the campus with it.

"Well I suppose that covers that," Ada said as she texted Melissa for her to send another portal.

A portal then appeared in the dorm room. Ada kissed her boyfriend goodbye before jumping into the portal and Marbles went to his study desk to read some of his textbooks. Just then Archimedes walked into the dorm.

"Catching up on your studies I see lad?"

"Affirmative," Marbles said, "How much have I missed?"

Archimedes laughed. "You've only missed two school days lad! And only one per subject."

"Still?"

"Well," the Poddleville citizen began, "Our English professor assigned a paper on the works of Playspeare, we reviewed for the Advanced Calculus quiz... And I don't have any other Monday classes with you."

Marbles groaned. "This is just wonderful!"

"At least you made it to your Design Physics class today," Archimedes reminded him.

"True," Marbles acknowledged, "So what did you tell my professors?"

"That you were missing of course," Archimedes answered, "They know about the secret, remember?"

"Right," Marbles replied still frustrated over having to pretend he doesn't exist, "Right."

Location: Control Central:

"I'm telling you Gerald, Abaddon IS at it again," Richard said as he watched the cyber-ruler training with his martial arts instructor.

It was tradition that the leader of Cyberspace engage in daily self defense training, since the leader is also a protector and, therefore, may or may not need to involve his/herself in physical combat.

"He told us that he was through with trying to take over Cyberspace," Gerald said as he blocked a punch from his instructor.

"And how many times throughout both your reign and Sir Dalhart's reign has he said that?"

"I know Richard, but this time is different, he is getting too old for this."

The cyborg threw one last punch.

"Okay, I think that's enough for today," he told his instructor.

"I'll see you tommorrow then," the instructor replied and left to go to his room.

Gerald sat down on the bench with Richard. "Look if you think I'm not still trying to track this cyborg down you're wrong."

"I'm not saying you aren't Gerald," Richard replied, "I just think we should consider the posibility that the recent attack on Aquarium's cyber slugs could be his doing. If for nothing else, just to spite us."

Gerald nodded in agreement. "Okay. But we need to find some better way of tracking Abaddon and his army. Do you realize how many undiscovered cybersites are out there?"

"I'm working on it sir."

Gerald smiled and patted the technician on the back. "We'll find him. I won't rest until we have."

Richard smiled back then stared at his feet silently.

"So... On a lighter note," he began, "When do you plan on proposing to Chell?"

"Oh how many more times am I gonna hear that question?!" Gerald exclaimed rolling his eyes, "You know I want to, but we've only been a couple for a year and a half. Besides, I don't have the time to get married right now. Someone like me can't be in a marital relationship and run Cyberspace at the same time. And now is NOT the right time to switch leaders. I want to at least narrow down Abaddon's whereabouts before I resign."

"I see," Richard said then got up from the bench, "Well I've got a short circuit to rewire."

"Have fun," Gerald called to him as he left the garden/training room.

Once Gerald was alone he walked over to the cyber-daisies, his girlfriend's favorite flower. Just staring at them reminded him of how much he missed her when she had to go back home.

"Some day we'll get married Chell," he said to himself, "Some day."

* * *

Please review as always! See ya in Cyberspace!


	31. Chapter 31

Hey, remember what I said about that "challenge?" Never mind, I just found out that I can't do that. Sorry :(

Now here's chapter 31!

* * *

**~Chapter Thirty-One~**

A month passed since Marbles and Ada were found. The police had confirmed that the body Marbles and Ada found was indeed Francesca Arky. The story made headlines but Marbles and Ada refused to come forward with their discovery and they were listed as anonymous. In that same thirty-day span, Melissa and Antoine started to spend more time with each other: Studying, talking, watching TV together. A Saturday came around and the couple decided to go skiing in Penguia.

"I've never been skiing before," Melissa said as she put her boots on, "I really hope I don't end up making a fool of myself."

"Darling," Antoine replied, "You could never make a fool out of yourself."

Melissa just smiled and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush. It was 7:30 A.M and Melissa had portaled him to her dorm room and from there they were going to Penguia in her cyber-coupe.

"Okay," she said looking at her reflection in the mirror, "Will this be warm enough?"

Melissa had not worn a tomboyish outfit since she and her brother moved in with the Lovelaces and, by now, she was so used to girlish fashion, she had never thought of buying jeans or sweats. And even back when she did wear them, Pompadoria was a naturally warm climate, so she didn't really have a clue what appropriate snow clothes were. But she had gone shopping the day before at the cyber-mall and bought what she thought to be the appropriate clothing, along with a pair of blue rain galoshes that caught her attention.

Her ski outfit: Slightly tight black pants, a grey sweater, and her ugg boots.

"Well..." Antoine said analyzing the outfit, "You may want to wear your pea coat with it."

"I thought so," Melissa agreed and grabbed it off the hook on the wall, "Though I have recently read that blue-skinned cyborgs have naturally lower body temperatures."

"That would explain why you can't tolerate heat."

"Ada told you I presume?" Melissa asked.

"Marbles actually. He said you were once crying in the middle of the night because you were so hot," Antoine laughed.

"When I was six!" Melissa exclaimed, "I'm sure he purposely left that part out!"

"Still its quite humorous!" Antoine said still laughing.

"Well it wasn't for me!" Melissa stated crossing her arms in annoyance as she remembered that night.

_Flashback:_

_It was one of those hot summer nights in Pompadoria. The temperature had reached one hundred degrees that day and only had died down to eighty degrees by midnight. The Benson household had their central air conditioning on at full blast but even that wasn't enough to keep them cool. Nobody in that house was keen with being hot, but for six year old Melissa, excess heat was a death sentence. All night she had tossed and turned in her bed. She had abandoned her blanket, changed into the lightest pajamas she had. But it wasn't enough and at this point she couldn't handle it any longer and she let hot tears fall from her eyes._

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_Clyde and Eileen slept soundly in their bed, the coolest room upstairs when Eileen stirred at the sound of a whimpering child. As she got up from their bed and went to open the door her husband awoke._

_"Honey?" he asked groggily, "Where are you going?"_

_"I think Melissa had a nightmare," she answered, "I'm going to go check on her."_

_"Okay," Clyde said falling back asleep._

_Eileen was glad that she was given leave this week. She loved her husband but he could be very awkward when it came to these things. Melissa's room was right next to theirs so she didn't need to walk very far. She slowly opened the door._

_"Melissa?" she whispered as the little girl turned around to face her, "Are you alright?"_

_Melissa shook her head. "I'm so hot Mommy!" the girl whimpered, "It feels like I'm melting!"_

_"Oh sweetie I'm sorry," Eileen said and went to pick her daughter up, "Do you want to come sleep in my room? Its cooler there and I can give you a fan also."_

_The small child nodded and Eileen carried her to the master bedroom. After Eileen wiped her sweat off with a cold wash cloth, Melissa went to lay down at her parents' window seat, the window slightly opened. Eileen placed a fan by the six year old and turned on the "high" setting._

_"Good night my darling," she said and kissed Melissa on her forehead._

_"Mommy?" Melissa asked and Eileen turned around, "Can you sing me our lullaby?"_

_Eileen smiled. "Of course sweetie."_

_End Flashback_

"Melissa?"

Melissa snapped out of the thoughts of her mother's sweet voice and blinked twice before turning to Antoine.

"Where were you just now?" he laughed.

"Oh just taking a trip down memory lane," Melissa laughed as she got her cyber-coupe keys and, "Come on! Let's go!"

The couple arrived at Penguia around 11:00 A.M. They immediately were given a pair of skis and went to the top of one of the hills.

"Well," Melissa said nervously, "Here we go..."

"Don't worry Melissa," Antoine said as he readied himself, "There are tons of people here that can't ski. Just follow my lead."

And with that Antoine went down the hill. Melissa closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Here we go!" she said to herself as she leaned forward began to ski down the hill, eventually catching up with him.

Antoine noticed his girlfriend skiing beside him.

"That's it Melissa! You're doing great!"

Melissa smiled as the cold breeze blew through her long hair.

"You were right Antoine!" she called back to him, "This is so much fun! I-"

Suddenly, as they reached the bottom of the hill, Melissa's ski's caught onto a rock that was hiding under the white surface. She fell forward with such force that her ski's fell right off. She screamed as she fell face first into the snow. Antoine circled around her and stopped in front of her. He couldn't help but laugh. Melissa brought herself up on her forearms and glared at him as he kept laughing. Then Antoine felt something cold hit him directly in the face. Melissa had thrown a snowball at him.

"What was that for?"

"For laughing at me!"

"Alright," he said slipping his feet out of the ski's, "Two can play at that game!"

With that he began to scoop up a ball of snow to throw back at her but Melissa quickly got up and ran. Still he was able to hit the snowball at her back. Melissa clenched her fists and turned around.

"Now you asked for it!" she said and knelt down to make another snowball.

Before they knew it, a full on snowball fight ensued as they chased each other around the ski park. It finally ended once Antoine snuck up behind Melissa and grabbed her by the waist, swinging her around.

"Antoine put me down!" she laughed as he kept swinging her around playfully.

Antoine finally placed her back on her feet gently and she leaned up to him and kissed him on the lips.

"Perhaps we should try again dear?" Antoine asked.

"Well where are our ski's?" Melissa asked.

"Looking for these?" a voice said from behind them.

The couple turned to see a male cyborg holding up their two pairs of ski's.

"Oh thank you sir," Melissa said smiling and taking the pair of ski's from the cyborg.

As the couple walked back to the top of the hill, the cyborg watched uneasily.

_"Those eyes," _he thought,_ "That smile. She seems so familiar..."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I finally did it Antoine!" Melissa exclaimed three hours later.

"I knew you'd get it eventually."

Melissa had at last managed to ski down the hill without falling into the snow at some point.

"Well I couldn't have done it without you dear," she replied while batting her eyelashes.

"Why thank-" Antoine stopped midsentence when he suddenly had to sneeze.

"God bless you," Melissa said.

"Thank-" Before he could finish thanking her, he sneezed again.

And again. And again. And then again...

"Darling," Melissa said after he was done sneezing, "Do you think maybe you're catching a cold?"

Antoine was about to laugh and say no, but he then realized that his throat _had _been bothering him for the past hour and his head was starting to hurt.

"You know Melissa. I think I might be."

Melissa grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's go back to the campus now."

"No honey I-"

"Antoine I will NOT let you stay out here when you're getting sick. Now come on!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The couple returned to Cyber University at a quarter to six. The whole drive back Antoine had done nothing but cough and sneeze. Melissa parked her cyber-coupe in its designated spot and they went up to her dorm. At first she thought it was just a cold. Now she was sure her boyfriend had cyber-flu.

"Go ahead and lie down dear," Melissa told Antoine as she slipped her boots off.

"Are you sure?"

Melissa nodded as she went over to her bathroom for a thermometer. Antoine took off his boots and socks and went to lay down. After she had found a thermometer she took his temperature.

"125 degrees," she read, "Yes darling you have cyber-flu."

"Well I should probably get out of your bed then," Antoine suggested, "I don't want to spread it on to you."

"Nonsense darling," she laughed as she went into her walk-in closet to change out of her wet clothes, "I never get ill, even in weather like this."

"Don't say that Melissa," Antoine teased as he coughed, "It may backfire on you someday."

Melissa emerged from her closet in a plain green and white checker-patterned dress. She stared at him with a smirk spread across her face.

"Alright. Since you're so insistent we'll go back to your dorm. BUT we are going by portal. I REFUSE to let you out in the cold when you're this sick."

Melissa had already been told that Brian goes home Friday evenings and comes back Sunday mornings, so she wasn't worried about being caught. She grabbed her purse before opening a portal and they both jumped in.

"Alright now to bed with you," Melissa commanded.

Antoine just laughed and climbed into his bed. This must have been what her brother was talking about when he said she was overly maternal. Melissa adjusted her boyfriend's pillow.

"How is that?" she asked.

"That will be fine honey," Antoine coughed, "You know though, you really don't have to do all this for me."

"I know I don't have to Antoine," Melissa said as she brought his tissue box over to him, "But I want to. I love you and I'm happy to take-"

"I know," Antoine interrupted, "Marbles has told me how you tend to play the role of caretaker a lot."

"Just how much has he told you thus far?" Melissa asked blushing.

"Enough to make me love you even more," he said taking a tissue.

Melissa smiled as her electric pulse raced and her cheeks turned an even brighter red.

"You know Melissa," he continued hoarsely, "I haven't come up with a nickname for you yet."

"It better not be Lissie!" she snapped, "I'm so sick and tired of Marbles and Ada calling me that!"

"Alright alright," he laughed before he sneezed again, "It won't be Lissie!"

Antoine paused for a moment as he thought of different nicknames for Melissa.

"Melissa I hate to tell you this but Lissie is the only nickname I can think of."

Melissa smirked.

"Okay," Antoine coughed, "Maybe we can go for something based off your personality... Hmmm... you're intelligent."

Melissa gave a small smile at the compliment. "Oh Antoine-"

"No its true," he said before she could finish being humble, "You know so much about computers you might as well..."

His words trailed off for a second as a name came to mind.

"Honey?" Melissa asked.

"And everyone is always saying how matronly you are!" Antoine coughed as he jolted into a sitting position, "Its perfect!"

"What?" Melissa laughed as she pushed Antoine back down to the pillow.

"Melissa," he began, "Think about it. You know nearly everything about computer technology. And you always act like such a mother to everyone. What type of nickname do you think applies to both of those traits."

Melissa was very confused at first and she really was thinking that Antoine just needed to rest because he was getting way too excited about goodness-knows-what. Then it hit her. And she loved it.

"Motherboard," she answered smiling.

"What do you think?" Antoine asked.

"Its perfect Antoine," she answered and kissed his forehead, "Its the most perfect name you could come up with for me."

"Alright," Antoine said, "Motherboard it is then."

Antoine then began to sneeze and cough violently.

"Do you have any Cybernol here Antoine?"

"In the bathroom cabinet," he answered through his coughs and sneezes.

So Melissa, no, Motherboard went over to grab the medicine, living up to her new name yet again.

* * *

Please review, as always. I know some of you already knew Melissa is Motherboard because of the chapter that no longer exists. But for those of you who didn't start reading this until after I had it removed, tell me, did you see it coming?

See ya in the next chapter!


	32. Chapter 32

**~Chapter Thirty-Two~**

Location: Distant Unknown Cybersite:

General Biff walked into the secret entryway of Abaddon's hideout.

"General did you find anything at Penguia?" a soldier asked.

Biff looked at his soldier with an annoyed face. "Get back to your training and mind your own business!"

The soldier saluted and left immediately. Biff went to his room and sat on his bed, rubbing his temples.

"Eileen," he said aloud, "Her eyes were just like Eileen's... Could it have been? No! Impossible! There's no WAY they could've survived out there!... Ooohh... Eileen!"

Ever since that night in Pompadoria ten years ago, he had been secretly growing more and more depressed. Yes he had wanted revenge. He was angry over everything that had happened. But he never meant for it to get this far...

And now he couldn't turn back...

There were many reasons he couldn't turn back. First and foremost was that he would be given the death sentence upon revealing himself. That is, if Abaddon didn't go after him and kill him first. And every now and again, a voice in the back of his mind would remind him of his past, filling him with homicidal anger once again. He would remember how she rejected him that day years ago. His one true love.

His beautiful Eileen.

_Flashback_

_Biff was the second in command of the defense team at Control Central and had been so for about five years now. He had always been very dedicated to his job. But things were changing now. A year and a half ago, Sir Dalhart had recruited a new employee to political duties of the facility. Her name was Eileen Sheinfeld and she was, by far, the most beautiful creature Biff had ever laid eyes on. After just two months of knowing each other, their friendship had turned into a romantic relationship. And now he was ready to make the next move._

_Biff knocked on the door of Eileen's room in Control Central, flowers and a small box in his right hand. Eileen opened the door, her sapphire eyes glowing with love upon seeing him._

_"Hi Biff," she said sweetly, "Come on in."_

_Biff stepped into her room and handed his girlfriend the flowers._

_"For you my princess," he said smiling._

_"Oh Biff," she said smelling the bouquet of roses, "They're beautiful. Thank you. But what ever is the occasion?"_

_"This," Biff said getting down on one knee and opening the box to reveal a diamond ring, "Eileen, there is no other woman in Cyberspace I would want to be with. Will you marry me?"_

_Eileen's blue eyes filled with tears of joy._

_"Oh Biff," she said, "Yes. A million times yes!"_

_End Flashback_

Biff smiled and clenched his fists at the same time. He didn't know what emotions to have over the memory. More importantly, why did they never get married? Why weren't those two children they'd gone after ten years ago HIS children?

_Flashback_

_Even though Sir Dalhart was less demanding than the cyber-ruler's before him, Biff and Eileen's jobs were still quite demanding. It would be a while until they could hold the wedding or even begin preparations for it. But they were engaged and very much in love which was all that mattered to them right now. Then suddenly as time went by, their romance seemed to be dwindling. Seemingly out of nowhere they were arguing constantly. And one day, Eileen had had enough._

_Biff had come to visit her at her apartment in Memoryville. Things were fine at first. They were still engaged and he had come mainly to talk about wedding preparations, since both of them were on leave for the next two weeks. But somewhere in that visit another argument ensued. What it was Biff could not remember. All he did know was that he had done the one thing he never would've dreamed of doing._

_Biff struck her._

_"Eileen," he said guiltily as she held her cheek where he'd struck, "I'm so sorry. I-"_

_"Get out!" she said in a mixture of anger and hurt._

_"Honey-"_

_"Don't you call me honey!" she yelled, the anger flashing through her eyes, "We're through!"_

_Eileen pushed him towards the door and opened it, throwing her engagement ring out into the hallway. _

_"You can keep that!"_

_"Eileen-" Biff tried to say._

_"NO! You said you would never do anything to hurt me!" Eileen screamed, "You're a liar and YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE!1"_

_With that she pushed him out the door and slammed it behind him._

_For months all he could think about was Eileen, especially with them working in the same facility. He would run across her at some point every day but she refused to even make eye contact with him. Eventually it just hurt too much. He was hardly able to do his job correctly and became extremely irritable with the others on the defense team. And Sir Dalhart, with all his patience, eventually had to fire him._

_That was when he met Abaddon, a cyborg whom was abandoned at birth and went from foster home to foster home throughout his childhood. Believing he was the only one who could understand, Biff confided in the older cyborg. What he didn't know was that Abaddon was using Biff as a pawn. After seven years of knowing each other, Abaddon told Biff that he wanted to overthrow Sir Dalhart and become the new ruler of Cyberspace._

_"Everything will change Biff," Abaddon had convinced him, "And with you as my right hand man, we'll be unstoppable! The two most powerful cyborgs in all of Cyberspace!"_

_"I don't know Abaddon," Biff had replied uneasily._

_That was when Abaddon used Biff's past against him._

_"Come on now Biff," he said pretending to care, "You don't really want to keep Sir Dalhart in office after what he did to you. Not once did he stop to think about how you were feeling. He was just USING you to protect himself."_

_"Do you really think so?" Biff asked feeling very worthless._

_Abaddon nodded. "And what about Eileen? I think she oughta' suffer greatly for what she did to you."_

_"No!" Biff argued, "I still love her. I would never want to do anything to hurt her!"_

_"But she hurt you!" Abaddon argued, "She left you and married someone else even though you still had feelings for her."_

_Biff was silent for a moment. "Eileen is... married?"_

_"You mean you didn't know?" Abaddon asked in fake shock, "I thought you would've known!"_

_Biff shook his head. Abaddon pulled out two photos he had somehow gotten his sickly hands on. One was a photo of Eileen in a bridal gown next to a tall blue-haired cyborg in a tuxedo. Another was a photo of the same two people with two young children, a girl about four years old and a little boy of around two._

_"His name is Clyde Samuel Benson," Abaddon explained._

_"Clyde? It can't be!"_

_"You know him I presume?" Abaddon asked, though he already knew the answer._

_"He's Sir Dalhart's top spy," Biff explained, "I've never actually met him, but I've heard a great deal about him._

_"I see," Abaddon said trying to hide a contented smile, "Well, anyway, these are their two children."_

_"Two children," Biff said more to himself than to Abaddon, "One girl and one boy. Just like what we had wanted. What we had planned on having after we got married."_

_"She's happily married while you're alone and unemployed," Abaddon taunted, "After all these years don't you think its time you got back at her? Come on! Show her you're a force to be reckoned with! Show Sir Dalhart he never should've fired you! Make the cyber-world regret the day they thought they could mess around with Biff Airaldi!"_

_"YES! I'LL DO IT!" Biff said, his feelings of betrayal evolving into anger._

_Abaddon smiled evilly. He had his first victim and hopefully within a year or two, he would have enough to overthrow Sir Dalhart._

_End Flashback_

As the years passed, Biff had become so full of hatred that he killed without mercy. Until that night. When he had come face to face with his former lover. The woman he still loved to this day. The screams of pain echoed through his mind each night since it happened. And he was still trying to accept the reality that it was by HIS hands.

"Biff!"

The general looked up to see Abaddon with his usual frustrated expression.

"Biff did you find out anything interesting at Penguia?"

"No sir," he answered still in his own world of guilt, "There was nothing that could suggest they were looking out for us."

"Good," Abaddon said with that evil grin appearing once more, "We will attack in the morning."

Biff inhaled deeply. "I don't want to sir."

"You'll do as you're told or you will die!" Abaddon stated sternly.

Biff sighed. "Yes sir."

Location: Cyber University:

"Motherboard? That was my idea!" Ada said to Melissa through her end of the line.

It was Sunday and Melissa had just gotten out of church, as had Marbles, Ada, and Archimedes back at the Academically Gifted campus. Melissa was talking to Ada on her cy-phone while she rode her bike over to Antoine's dorm.

"I know," she said on her end of the line, "But there's something about when Antoine mentioned it that just..."

"Made your circuits spark?" Ada finished for her.

"Yes exactly," Melissa said as she locked her bike to the bike rack, "Well I'm at Antoine's dorm building now so I have to go. Good-bye Ada."

"Good-bye Mel- I mean Motherboard," Ada replied and then ended the call.

Melissa put her cy-phone back into the side pocket of her purse and went to Antoine's dorm.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So where did you get all this soup from Antoine?" Brian asked after having opened the fridge.

"Melissa made it for me," Antoine explained before sneezing, "She says it was her father's special cure for cyber-flu."

"But how did she manage to go home, make it, and then come back here in one night?"

Antoine froze in his bed. If he didn't think of some explanation, his girlfriend would be busted, as the Radsters would say.

"Um... well she... made it at one of her friend's campus apartments. Yeah she used their kitchen," Antoine lied as he grabbed a tissue.

Before Brian could say anything else there was a knock at the door. He opened the door to find none other than his roommate's girlfriend.

"Oh hey Melissa," Brian said opening the door more so she could come in. Antoine's still in bed as you can see."

"Hello dear," Antoine said nasally as Melissa walked over to the bed, "How was church today?"

"Very moving as always," Melissa answered smiling, "How are you feeling today? Is my father's soup helping at all?"

"Oh definitely," Antoine coughed, "I think I should be able to go to class tomorrow thanks to you."

"Mind if I have some Melissa?" Brian asked.

"Oh do help yourself," Melissa answered, "We don't want you catching his illness."

"So what is the secret darling?" Antoine asked as he grabbed another tissue.

"Nothing special really. Its mainly the garlic and ginger. But the amount is what makes it work." **(A/N: This actually is true. Remember that the next time you get sick ;) )**

"I see," Antoine said then turned in his bed to Brian's direction, "Brian can you heat up a bowl for me too?"

Brian sighed. "Sure thing bro."

"I've been driving Brian crazy ever since he came home this morning," Antoine explained, "I think he's glad you're here to take care of me."

"Very much so," Brian replied, "I'm more than thrilled to leave the job to Nurse Melissa."

Melissa and Antoine laughed.

"Actually," Antoine stated as his friend brought him the bowl of soup, "Her specific nick-name is now Motherboard."

Brian smiled. "Motherboard huh? I'd say that's a perfect name for ya."

"Thank you," Melissa replied politely, "And I believe I shall make it my alias in the near future, once I've made my inventions public and/or find myself a stable career in the political field."

"Well we better get used to calling you that all the time then?" Antoine suggested.

"But why do you need an alias?" Brian asked, not having been let in on the girl's past.

"Its personal," Melissa answered simply.

"Oh okay."

The three of them continued talking until Brian decided to go outside and practice some of his skate-boarding.

"So my dear Motherboard," Antoine asked his girlfriend once Brian was gone, "Have you thought about joining the debate club this semester?"

"A little," Melissa answered, "I had been in the debate club back in high school, but I guess I've been busy right now trying to do some more research on ways to bring a programmed cyborg back into their original body."

"Well you've got over 250 years to figure that out," Antoine replied hoarsely, "But you only have two more years of college. Plus every now and again we have politicians of all sorts come to the meetings and such. Same with Senior debate club."

"Really?" Melissa asked, now very interested.

"Yes," her boyfriend coughed, "Last week we had one of the representatives from Sensible Flats come to the meeting."

Melissa was amazed by this. The chance to not only improve her political skills but also occasionally meet a political figure. How very exciting!

"Alright, I'll join. When is the next meeting?"

* * *

1. Episode 214 "Trick or Treat."

Please review as always and I'll see you in the next chapter!


	33. Chapter 33

**~Chapter Thirty-Three~**

"Oh why does tomorrow have to be Monday?" Ada's roommate Mandy complained as she hopped into bed.

"Technically Mandy it already is Monday," Ada said pointing to the clock that read 1:28 A.M. **(A/N: That's what time it is as I'm writing this)**

"Whatever," Mandy sighed, "I can't stand Mondays! Especially this semester with the 8:00 A.M class."

"Well I have 8:00 A.M classes the whole rest of the week so don't complain!"

Ada got up from her desk and went into her walk-in closet, carrying her poetry book, diary, and feather pen with her. Ada's Mondays started an hour later than her roommate's. Therefore, she would spend the last hour of her Sunday nights writing in her closet so that Mandy wouldn't be kept up by the light. And Ada wouldn't be woken by the light when Mandy got up in the mornings.

"Good night Ada," Mandy yawned.

"Good night Mandy."

Turning on the closet light, Ada pulled out her sleeping bag and got inside, opening her diary to a new page.

_"Monday 10 December 17820 1:30 A.M_

_Well, finals are just two days away. I'm a tad bit nervous about my history exam but other than that I believe I shall do quite well. Mandy, however, is a nervous wreck over her Spanish and French exams. Being a fluent French speaker myself I have tried helping her, but she is still terribly anxious. Unfortunately, she needs quite a few language credits for her Library Science degree so this won't be the last time she takes it. When I see her stress out like that it makes me glad I don't need more than one secondary language for my degree._

_Anyway, Marbles seems to be pretty nervous about his French exam also. He's never been very good with that language. I suggested that he try taking a dead cyber-language since that's always been of interest to him, but he is just so persistent! He insists it would be useless because nobody speaks it anymore. Ugh! Men! They simply don't listen to anybody! I'm sure he'll do well enough however. Archimedes is concerned about his English exam. But again, I'm certain he will do well. As for the two lovers on the Junior campus, they both seem pretty calm about the finals. _

_Go figure!_

_Speaking of Antoine and Melissa, Melissa wants to go by Motherboard from now on. Antoine came up with it just as a pet-name but she believes it would do well as an alias. She has asked us to start calling her by this from now on. It'll take some getting used to I'm sure, but its worth it if she can get her dreams and still not worry about Abaddon finding her and Marbles, or Dr. Marbles as I shall have to call him in a few years time._

_Aside from my personal life, there was a mysterious attack on Penguia today. I heard it on the news. Someone tried to steal the Prism of Penguia by finding the long lost tomb of records and nearly succeeded. Luckily someone overheard the conversation and the police had them arrested. The five of them are meant to be behind bars for fifteen cyber-years._

_It seems as if there have been many random attacks on Cybersites lately. Most of them have been Ann Arky's doing, like when she stole the Totally Rad Ring of Radopolis, but a few of them were never tracked down. Last month's attack on Cybersite Nowhere comes to mind. They just stole all the donuts, the site's individual currency, and got away with it! Well, at least Gerald Williams was able to give them some compensation. He suggested that they temporarily use snelfus like the rest of Cyberspace and that he would provide it to them. But he still hasn't come up with enough to make up for the entire site's financial loss. So the citizens are trading instead. Seems fair enough I suppose._

_Our Calculus professor held an end of the semester party this afternoon. Marbles and Archimedes spent the whole of the party with the rest of the boys and one of them had the brilliant idea of five boys standing on top of each other with Marbles on the top and Archimedes on the bottom. Of course, being a triangular shape, his body couldn't support the rest of them for very long. They all came crashing down and Marbles broke his glasses on the way. I felt bad for him, but at the same time I couldn't help but laugh. One of the boys tried to get up and accidently stepped a bit too hard on the leg of his trousers. I don't think I need to go into any further details. _

_Well, I best be off to bed now. I want to be as focused as possible tomorrow morning. _

_Good night."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday came faster than wanted for the students of Cyber University. Today was the first day of finals and for many it would determine whether they passed or failed their classes. For Ada, Marbles, and Archimedes the first exam was French at 8:00 A.M

"Sal-uht jeh map elle Marbles. Enchant de te ren con chair," Marbles recited incorrectly as the three made their way to class.

Ada and Archimedes laughed. "Backspace my dear Marbles. That's pronounced 'Salut je m'appelle. Enchanteé de te recontrer.'"

"I'm done for," Marbles sighed as they walked up the stairs.

"You'll do fine lad," Archimedes assured him, "Yer just a tad bit nervous that's all."

"And that's meant to change the moment the professor hands us the test?" Marbles replied, "I think not!"

"Just do your best love," Ada said as they walked into class, "I believe in you."

With that she gave Marbles a good luck kiss and the three students went to their seats, moments away from taking the final.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The exam had lasted three hours and the three students would have their Calculus exam at 1:00 P.M. To pass time, they convened in Ada's and Mandy's dorm to study.

"I failed," Marbles sighed as the three sat on the floor with their books, "I just know I failed."

"Message error," Ada said to him as she opened her book, "You could never fail."

"Don't be so nice about it," Marbles said sadly, "There is no way I could have-"

Marbles lost his words as the door opened and Mandy walked in with an equally depressed expression on her face.

"Well folks," she said slinging her book bag to the side and sitting down at her desk, "It looks like I'll be retaking Spanish."

"Mandy now don't you start too," Ada warned.

"Its true though! I probably got five answers right at most!"

"Same with me on my French exam," Marbles added.

"Mandy Fileshare and Marbles Benson!" Ada said raising her voice at the two, "I will NOT have you two putting yourselves down like this!"

"She has a point my friends," Archimedes added, "Yer both very bright students. You need to give yerselves more credit."

Marbles and Mandy glanced at each other, than at Archimedes and Ada, back at each other, and sighed.

"Alright ," Marbles said, "Let's just get back to studying for the remaining exams."

"How many more exams do you all have again?" Archimedes asked.

"I have two more today," Mandy answered, "Then two tomorrow, and my last exam is Friday at 4:00 P.M."

"That's less than half the amount of exams I have," Ada sighed, "One more today, three tomorrow, two Friday, one Saturday, two Monday, three Tuesday, and the last two a week from today."

"Of course Mandy is going to have less exams than us," Marbles replied, "She only has one major and no minors."

"Well I'm only interested in one thing and that's becoming a librarian," Mandy stated, "I even sometimes daydream about running the Cybrary."

"The Cybrary?!" Her three friends exclaimed.

"You do realize how hard it is to become the head Cybrarian?" Archimedes pointed out.

"I know," Mandy sighed, "But ever since I did volunteer work stacking the shelves back in high school I just knew I wanted to work there."

Ada smiled. "Well you can do it I'm sure."

"Thanks," Mandy said smiling back.

"Well are we going to study for these exams or not?!" Archimedes exclaimed.

"Yes let's get back to that," Ada said turnin a page in her text book.

And the four students continued with their studies. After about ten minutes however, Ada became off topic when she remembered something she had seen on the news the day before.

"Say did you hear that the cyborgs who tried to steal the Prism of Penguia escaped from prison?"

"You're kidding?!" Mandy exclaimed.

"How in Cyberspace did they manage to do that?" Archimedes asked.

"I don't know," Ada said, "I simply don't know."

Location: Distant Unknown Cybersite:

"You five disgust me!" Abaddon shouted at the cyborgs in front of him, "I ask you to do something so simple and you get yourselves arrested! You should be glad there's so few of us left because otherwise you would be dead right now!"

The five cyborgs hung their heads down in shame while their general shuffled his feet nervously.

"And you Biff!" Abaddon continued turning to the forty-three-year-old, "This is just as much your fault! Is this the best you could train them to be?! I knew I should've recruited someone better for the job! And now I can't turn back because the whole cyber-world is onto us now and nobody will ever want to join our side again! All because you couldn't train everyone hard enough! ITS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Biff now hung his head also. Yet again he had proved himself to be a waste of space.

_"Its not my fault,"_ he silently thought to himself,_ "If SHE hadn't left me I never would've stooped this low_."

"Are you listening to me you idiot?!" Abaddon screamed inches away from the general's face.

"Yes sir," Biff said, trying to hide any and all emotions.

"Good," Abaddon replied threateningly, "Now get these pieces of trash over with the others and start training them right!"

Biff saluted silently and walked toward the training area, the five soldiers following behind. They knew what was coming and they would _never _get used to it.

"So we have another group of failures today," the general shouted angrily at the rest of the small army as the last of the five prison escapes walked thought the door. Biff then slammed the door behind them.

"You guys know what we do when someone fails," Biff continued.

The others in the army nodded yes and Biff made the gesture for one of the soldiers to get him his whip and the others pinned the five escapees to the ground. By this point nobody really needed to be told what was going to happen. Everyone in Abaddon's rebellion army had both seen and gone through the torturing punishment more than twice. The other soldiers watched as Biff whipped each of the soldiers several times. This was the one time Biff got to let out years of anger and frustration and he had a lot of it to let out. Each day for the past twelve years, he had been consumed more and more by anger, depression, and self-hatred. Sometimes, a part of him _wanted_ the soldiers to fail just so he could punish them with repeated beatings. Each punishment he gave was more harsh than the last. The last time someone had failed their mission, it took their passing out for Biff to realize he had whipped them enough. But now each of the five victims were out cold and he was still at it. Then, after a split second, he looked down at the five unconscious cyborgs. He wanted to keep going, but he realized that any more would potentially kill them. And they were already short on soldiers, they couldn't lose any more. If Abaddon found out they were dead, he would kill Biff too. Gasping for air, he harshly kicked each soldier into consciousness.

"Remember men," the general said tiredly as he dragged up one of the victims, "Failure isn't acceptable here... Take them to the solitary confinement."

The soldier nearest Biff dragged up one of the other victims, forcing him towards the solitary confinement rooms while the other four followed behind weakly. Biff turned to the rest of the army. It was an army that had started with about two thousand soldiers and one hundred generals, including Biff as head general. Now there were a mere one hundred soldiers and only one general, Biff himself. Everyone else had died either in battle, by Abaddon out of frustration, or through the death sentence upon being caught. Why was Abaddon still doing this? He wasn't trying to take over Cyberspace anymore, but was still doing evil just for the fun of it. But Biff just couldn't see the point anymore. Then again, this was Abaddon they were working for.

"What do you men think you're staring at?" Biff shouted, "Get in your training lines before you get the whip too!"

"Yes sir," they all said quickly as they got into their training positions.

After all, the only thing in Cyberspace that was worse than Biff's wrath was Abaddon's wrath. And eventually, Abaddon would add his own torture to the five in solitary confinement...

* * *

Yeah this is a pretty boring chapter. I'm going through serious writer's block right now. But please review. And if you can, let me know which characters you'd like to see more of and I'll try fitting them into the next few chapters.

As Digit would say:

See ya in Cyberspace!


	34. Chapter 34

**~Chapter Thirty-Four~**

Abaddon sat in his study room thinking of some new way to get back at Cyberspace for removing him from his ruler-ship, to strike fear into their circuits as they wondered where these occasional attacks came from. He couldn't believe a task that should've been so simple as finding the prism of Penguia, and then stealing it, was such a failure.

"Why? Why? WHY?!" the aging cyborg shouted as he slammed his fist against the desk.

After just one year on top of the cyber-world, some young cyborg from who-knows-where shows up and takes his position as ruler of Cyberspace, forcing Abaddon and his army to flee or else they would be given the death sentence. But less than half of his army had escaped the prison. The ones left behind had to face the electric chair. It infuriated Abaddon that he had been put in this situation. And it was failures like this that would make his past flash before him. He would remember all those who had mistreated him.

"I bet they're all laughing at me right now," Abaddon said to himself, "Just like they always used to."

_Two hundred forty cyber-years ago_

_The young radster couple knew this house was a foster home, which was why they were leaving the two-week-old child here. How foolish the young woman had been to think that she and her boyfriend were ready for a child. And even if they had been ready, this was NOT the type of child they wanted. The baby had repulsively ugly red eyes and was terribly thin with disgustingly deformed feet._

_"Come on dude put the thing down," she said to her boyfriend who was holding the child in a basket with his name tag on it, hesitant to drop it off at the doorstep._

_"I don't know," he said looking at his son, "He IS still, like, my son and, like, we said just two weeks ago that we were gonna be these totally cool parents and make this narley cyborg. Doncha think we should, like, follow through with it?"_

_"Like, that was before it came out of the pod shell," she shuddered remembering how excited they were to make their first cyborg child and how they didn't care how their parents kept telling them to wait until they were older. Only to see the most disgusting baby ever and realize that they really were too immature to be parents._

_The father sighed and kissed his son good-bye._

_"Ew!" the mother exclaimed, "Like, don't kiss it!"_

_"HE is my son!" the high school drop out argued, "Like, I don't care if he's bogus-looking. He's still my son!"_

_"Ugh! Look just put it on the doorstep, ring the bell, and let's go!"_

_Ok ok!" he said before looking at his son one last time, "Good-bye Junior. I do still love you. Remember that."_

_With that the boy did as his girlfriend told him and they disappeared into the night._

_Present_

Unfortunately, Abaddon was too young to remember his father's words nor had he been given any proof that there was someone out there that cared.

_Flashback_

_Ten-year-old Junior had spent a month in his new foster home at Cybersite Nowhere. Ever since he was first abandoned at the foster home in Radopolis, he had been moved around to new homes every year or so. Each time the reason was the same._

_None of the foster parents could be bothered with raising such a grotesque looking child._

_Junior ran out to the playground and hid under a slide from a group of older boys that were chasing him._

_"Oh what's wrong Junior?" the leader of the pack said crouching down so that he was at eye level with him, "Trying to hide your ugly face from the world?"_

_"You're so ugly," another boy said, "If I didn't know better I'd think you were a demon!"_

_"Yeah we oughta call you Abaddon," said the third, "Cuz only the destroyer could look so repulsive!"_

_"That's exactly what we're gonna call you," the leader said to the now crying boy, "From now on your name is Abaddon!"_

_End Flashback _

"Looks like you picked a pretty fitting name buddy," Abaddon said to himself as if the gang was actually there in front of him.

Yes, ever since that day he had been known as Abaddon. Even his various foster parents called him that. Everyone hated him even though he hadn't done anything...

...Yet...

_Flashback_

_Abaddon celebrated his 100th birthday alone, in an alleyway that was his home. His last foster parents were more than relieved to be rid of him when he reached eighteen. They literally packed all his belongings the night before so the moment he woke up, they could send him right out the door. He had held only a few cashier positions throughout his adulthood and never kept them for very long. It was the only job he could get, for he had no diploma. He had flunked out of high school because he was always hiding in the restroom to avoid bullies, rather than going to class. And even the least judging customers couldn't bare to let his early-aging hands touch their money, so his managers very quickly fired him._

_One hundred years of life and so far nothing worth while. He sighed heavily as he sat against the alley wall looing up at the sky. Suddenly a cloaked figure approached him._

_"Hey man," the mysterious stranger said, "What's got you down?"_

_"Oh nothing," Abaddon replied sarcastically, "I've just lived the most miserable life anyone could imagine all for something I can't help!"_

_"That's a shame," the stranger said, "I can tell you have a lot of potential."_

_Abaddon looked at him uneasily. "How?"_

_"I know a lot more about you than you think Abaddon. Or should I say Junior?"_

_Abaddon's red eyes widened. "You know both my names?"_

_"I know a lot of things," the stranger said, "And I also know how you can finally be happy."_

_"How?"_

_"Rule Cyberspace," the stranger answered, "You'll have everything: Money, power, fame. People will both look up to you, and fear you. And I know you can do it."_

_"That sounds great," Abaddon replied, "But how can I ever become the ruler of Cyberspace when nobody will even look twice at me?"_

_"A rebellion of course! Just gather an army of cyborgs that hate the government and you'll be at the top in no time."_

_"Again, who will want to join forces with me when nobody likes me as is?"_

_The cloaked figure smiled. "Its very simple. I can show you how, for a price."_

_"But I don't have any snelfus at all," Abaddon replied._

_"I don't want snelfus Abaddon," the stranger said, "I just need you to sign this agreement."_

_The man pulled out a contract and pen from his cloak._

_"There must be more to this," Abaddon said, taking the contract and signing it."_

_"Oh there is," the stranger said evilly as he took back the signed paper, "There's much more."_

_End Flashback_

Yes. Abaddon had sold his soul that day and didn't even know it until a year later. But he was too angry with the cyber-world to really care about the eternal consequences anyway. He had been given all the strategies on how to build the rebellion, who was best suited for his army, and who would stand in his way the most. Still, evil never wins and Abaddon hadn't read the fine print. So now here he was, trying to regain the "keys" to Cyberspace.

"For now we just make them miserable," Abaddon said to himself, "But when the time is right, I'll show them. I WILL defeat Williams just like I defeated Dalhart, and I'll get anyone who comes after the man too!"

"Sir," a voice said while knocking on his door and snapping him out if his thoughts.

"Come in Biff."

Biff opened the door and walked in.

"Sir Abaddon," he said formally, "The men have received my discipline and have been in the solitary confinement rooms for an hour now. I will leave you to do what you must with them."

"Thank you general," Abaddon answered, "And I will see to it that they are punished severely. Now go."

Biff saluted his boss and left, cringing. For he knew what Abaddon was about to do to them.

And it was a lot more painful than the whips Biff gave out...

Location: Cyber University:

"And then you divide the square root by half of the original number," Melissa said to her friend Artemis as she wrote down the steps.

It was evening now and Artemis had her Complex Cyber-Analysis exam in the morning. Unlike the two Bensons, she wasn't exactly an expert in mathematics so Melissa was helping the older girl study.

"Thanks Motherboard," Artemis said, addressing Melissa by her new title, "I don't know how I could get through this class without you tutoring me."

"What are friends for?" she said smiling.

Artemis smiled back and hugged her younger friend tightly. Melissa returned the hug.

"So," Artemis began, "Just one more year and we're done with college forever!"

"I know," Melissa replied, "Its gone by so fast!"

"Are you thinking about grad school?"

"Possibly. Though my professors say there's really nothing they can teach me anymore," Melissa laughed.

"That smart huh?" Artemis teased.

"Apparently," Melissa answered before changing the subject, "So what are your plans for Christmas?"

"Well, my family and I are going to visit my cousins in Happily-Ever-After and possibly see a Christmas play that Little Red Riding Hood and some of the other fairytale kids are in."

"Really?" Melissa said, interested, "What part does she have?"

"Red is starring as Mary and Jack as Joseph," the Mt. Olympian answered, "And my youngest cousin, Goldi, is playing one of the angels."

"Oh that sounds so sweet!"

"And your plans?" the twenty-year-old asked.

"My brother and I are going back to Helping Hand Land with Ada," she answered, "Nothing special is being planned at the moment. But I believe our church is also putting on a play starring the Sunday school kids. I remember they had one last year. Marbles and Ada are going to see a production of the "Nutcracker" and Antoine and I have tickets to see "The Messiah" at the St. Frances Cathedral on Christmas Eve."

"Did I hear my name being called?" A masculine voice said from outside Melissa's dorm.

Blushing, Melissa went to open the door and let her boyfriend in, who had a bouquet of Cyber-Stephanotis' and Cyber-Geraniums for her, already in a vase. For these flowers represent good luck and calmness, respectively.

"For you Motherboard," Antoine said handing her the flowers and kissing her hand.

"Oh Antoine!" Melissa exclaimed as her cheeks turned an even brighter red, "You shouldn't have!"

"Consider it a belated best-wishes-for-your-finals present," he said smiling at his beautiful girlfriend.

"Well I was just helping Artemis prepare for her Complex Cyber-Analysis exam," Melissa said as she placed the vase on her desk, "I know you're taking the exam with her tomorrow."

"Yes I am," Antoine replied, "And yes, I would very much appreciate it if you would help me prepare for it."

"Well let's get started," Artemis said.

Antoine and Melissa sat down with Artemis on the edge of Melissa's bed. Antoine actually had come, in part, to have Melissa tutor him so he already had his textbook with him.

"So where are we starting?" Antoine said opening the textbook.

"We were on chapter thirty-four page 1210," Artemis explained.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The three studied until midnight, when Artemis and Antoine had finally had enough math for one day.

"Goodnight Motherboard, goodnight Antoine," Artemis said walking out the door to her dorm next door.

"Good night Artemis," the couple said simultaneously as the door shut.

"Well dear," Antoine said heading towards the door, "I best be going now too."

"Wait Antoine," Melissa said stopping him in his tracks, "I have something to tell you."

"What is it dear?"

"You know how I was doing more experiments with the portals yesterday?" she said getting up.

Antoine nodded.

"Well," Melissa began, "I finally did it!"

"You mean?..."

"Yes Antoine," Melissa finished for him, "I've opened a portal from Cyberspace to the real world!"

"Motherboard that's fantastic!" Antoine exclaimed before picking his girlfriend up and spinning her around, while kissing her at the same time.1

"I know!" she said as he placed her feet back on the floor, "And it was so beautiful there, even if they don't have the binary constellation."

"So you actually stepped foot in that dimension?" her boyfriend asked with widened eyes.

Melissa just nodded her head excitedly.

"Did anyone see you though?"

"Not a human in sight," she answered, "I opened the portal on an uninhabited piece of land called Antarctica. Its a lot like Penguia, except the penguins can't speak."

"You know you amaze me more and more each day of your existence," Antoine complimented.

"Oh Antoine," she laughed.

"Its true Motherboard," he interrupted, "I love you so much. More than words can say."

Melissa smiled before kissing him, this kiss lasting a bit longer than the last.

"Well goodnight Motherboard," Antoine said and turned towards the door.

"Good night Antoine dear," she said opening the door for him.

The nineteen-year-old walked out of the dorm room and Melissa closed the door behind him. She let out a lovesick sigh before going back to her textbook and reading fir the sheer fun of it. In that aspect, she truly was her father's daughter.

* * *

1. taken straight from Phantom of the Opera. The balcony scene "All I Ask of You."

So there's chapter 34. Lemme know what you think in the reviews and if you know what else from this chapter is inspired by the plot of Broadway's longest-running musical of all time.

"See ya in Cyberspace!"-Digit


	35. Chapter 35

**~Chapter Thirty-Five~**

"How do I look Marbles?" Ada asked as she pulled a strand of hair behind her ear.

Finals were over and it was Christmas Eve. Despite pre-exam anxieties, everyone had passed their classes and were now offcially a year and a half away from their Bachelor's degree.

It was 6:00 P.M and Marbles and Ada were getting ready to leave and watch a production of "The Nutcracker" at Cybersite *Ceol *Damhsa, a cybersite dedicated to the performing arts. Ada was wearing a red Victorian ball gown with black lace trimmings across the collar and at the end of the sleeves which went to her elbows. She wore her golden hair in a bun with a strand falling from each side and around her neck was a lace choker. Marbles eyes widened as she walked out of her bedroom, once again, in awe of her regal beauty.

"You look... beautiful," he stuttered.

Ada smiled and curtsied, making her look even more beautiful.

"Well we better be going now," Marbles said linking arms with her as they headed downstairs, "We don't want to be late for the show."

"And you've absolutely made sure the new cyber-coupe is resistant to magnetic force fields?"

"Affirmative love."

As they walked out the door, Margaret walked in from the parlor and noticed them.

"Oh my, Ada!" she said running up to her daughter, "You look just like I did the first time I wore this dress. I knew it would look splendid on you!"

"Thank you Mother," Ada said smiling.

That reminded Margaret of something. "Speaking of mothers, where is-"

"Upstairs with Nanny," Marbles answered, knowing who his caretaker was talking about, "Nanny is helping her with her hair."

"I see," Margaret nodded, "Well off you go you two! Don't want to be late to the show!"

Marbles grabbed his coat and Ada's red cloak from the rack and the couple got into their cyber-coupe and left.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I do wish that there was a faster way we could get there," Ada sighed thirty minutes into the drive.

Unfortunately, Helping Hand Land and Ceol Damhsa were an hour and a half apart from each other.

"Well hopefully once Motherboard commercializes her portals we can just take one there," Marbles reflected.

"You know she won't let us do that," Ada argued, "She'll go on and on about how it should only be used in emergencies."

Marbles laughed. "And yet she frequently uses them to visit her cyboid friend in The Forest."

Ada rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Marbles continued, "I have devised a way to make travel by cyber-coupe faster."

"Well?"

"I call it a site-warp*," he explained, "But it can be rather dangerous sometimes. The last time I tried this the vehicle nearly collided with a palm tree in Solaria."

"Well I am not about to get myself stranded again because of you," Ada sighed, "So we'll just have to take the long way."

"I know," Marbles said as he turned East.

Silence ensued for another ten minutes or so before Ada started speaking again.

"Ava was certainly glad to see you again," she said as she remembered the ten year-old neighbor's child's excitement when the three returned for Christmas break.

"Yes," Marbles laughed, "She's such a sweet little girl."

A year ago, during the summer, a divorced woman had moved next door to the Lovelace household. She had a daughter named Ava whom was in summer school after failing a math class. Marbles had been hired by the woman to tutor her and eventually he had formed enough of a bond with the child that he worked for free. Since then, little Ava had not only improved in mathematics, she had developed a strong liking to it. And even when he was away at college, Marbles would still tutor her over the phone when necessary, or even just to keep in contact with her. He pretty much saw her as an adopted daughter.

"Pity we couldn't take her with us," Ada said and then laughed, "Even if our names do get mixed up every now and again."

"Well she really isn't the type of child that's interested in ballet," Marbles pointed out, "She is pretty much absorbed in Math and Science."

"Kind of like someone else I know," Ada said batting her long eyelashes.

Marbles smirked. "Are you mocking me dear?"

"Oh no of course not," Ada said and then paused before fake coughing the words, "Fermat's Theorem."

"Oh don't remind me of how much that experiment failed," he groaned as he turned the vehicle North-East.

"We did our best love. There are just simply some things that aren't mathematically possible."

"Yes," Marbles replied.

"So shall we listen to some carols?" Ada asked.

Marbles smiled and nodded yes. Ada turned the radio on and put in a Christmas CD of her favorite cyber-singer. The couple listened to it on replay until they arrived at their destination. Marbles opened the passenger's side door and held out a hand for his girlfriend as she got out. After entering the theater, they took to their seats in the balcony, hands entwined as they waited for the ballet to start.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You look so lovely Motherboard!" Nanny exclaimed as she finished styling the eighteen-year-old's hair.

And the young adult did indeed look beautiful. Her blue hair was straightened and then pulled into a late-Victorian bun with a cyber-lilac hair-pin holding it in place. She wore a holly-green version of Ada's gown and had her usual smoky eye shadow make-up.

"Thank you Nanny," she replied as she stood up from her vanity seat, "I do hope that Antoine will like it."

They then heard the door bell ring downstairs.

Margaret got up from the sofa to answer the door. When she opened it, she saw a handsome young man with nut-brown hair and emerald eyes wearing a tuxedo. He held a bouquet of red cyber-roses and cyber-poinsettias in his right hand and a perfectly wrapped gift box under his left arm. Margaret knew from her conversations with Melissa exactly who he was.

"Good evening," the woman said curtsying, "You must be Antoine Klemmons. Melissa has told me so much about you."

"Yes," Antoine said blushing from embaressment, "And I take it you are Miss Margaret Lovelace."

"I am. Please, do come in. I'll tell Melissa you're here."

"Its alright Miss Lovelace," Melissa said from the top of the stiarcase, "I'm here."

Antoine felt his heart skip a beat as his girlfriend walked gracefully down the staircase. She looked so radiant in that gown, her hair shined so brightly, and her posture was always so perfect as she walked.

"Motherboard," he said shyly, "You look... beautiful."

Melissa just smiled and blushed.

"Uh..um.. these are for you," Antoine said handing her the bouquet.

"Oh Antoine you always buy me the most lovely flowers," she said taking them, "You really do spoil me way too much."

"Well that's not all I bought you," he laughed as Melissa went to the kitchen and filled a vase for the flowers.

Antoine turned to Margaret who had been standing there trying not to laugh at how adorable the young couple was.

"Will you place this under your Christmas tree?" he asked, "Make sure she doesn't open it until tomorrow."

"Oh don't worry Antoine," Margaret assured him as she went and put the present under the tree, "I'll be sure she waits until Christmas morning!"

"Alright," Melissa said as she came back into the living room and took her waist-length black cloak off the rack, "I'm ready when you are."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

St. Frances Cathedral was much closer than Ceol Damhsa with only a forty-five minute trip. It was the biggest cathedral in all of Cyberspace and floated on its own just as the cyber grand council building did, with a large three floor hangar bay beneath the main floor.

"It's so beautiful here Antoine," Melissa said as the couple took their seats in the front row of the massive sanctuary.

"I know," answered Antoine as he looked around.

The entire cathedral was decked in Christmas finery: a wreath adorned the main altar and mistletoe and holly could be found on every corner. It only added to the already beautiful building which had golden walls, stained glass paintings, and a large chandelier.

_"Its a perfect place to hold a wedding,"_ they both secretly thought to themselves.

Just then the lights dimmed. The oratorio began.

Christmas Day:

Margaret and Nanny woke the three teenagers at 9:30 A.M while the snow fell outside. Both couples hadn't come back home until well past midnight the previous night, Marbles stayed up wrapping presents at the last minute, and the girls had stayed up chattering about their dates for at least an hour.

"Oh Nanny just five more minutes," Ada complained as she heard the house maid knocking on her bedroom door and telling her to get out of bed.

"Now Ada don't be like that!" Nanny said from outside the room, "Its Christmas day. You can get your beauty rest tomorrow."

Yawning, the young girl got out of bed and put on her purple slippers and threw on a purple bathrobe. Likewise, the other two teenagers down the hall threw robes over their pajamas.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"And this one is for you Ada," Marbles said handing his girlfriend a gift bag.

"Why thank you my dear," she said taking the tissue paper out to find one of her most wanted gifts at the bottom.

"Natalie Jenkinson's poetry collection!" she exclaimed holding the book, "Darling you shouldn't have!"

"But I wanted to," he said smiling.

They both gazed into each other's eyes while the other three in the room tried to stifle their laughter.

"Sshhh," Melissa said to the two older women as she tiptoed to the window sill and grabbed the mistletoe that had been hanging from the window next to the Christmas tree.

The girl quickly and quietly ran over to the chattering couple and hung the mistletoe oveer their heads.

"You know the rules," Melissa teased.

Marbles and Ada leaned towards each other and kissed, making Marbles turn a bright red.

"Awww!" Nanny sighed as she and Margaret clapped.

"Oh I just remembered," Marbles said suddenly and sprinted upstairs, "I uploaded a present for Ava. I must retrieve it for her."

"Don't run up the stairs," Margaret called after him.

She rolled her eyes as she heard him still running and went to grab the gift Antoine had brouht with him.

"Motherboard," she said catching the young adult's attention, "Antoine asked that I give you this today."

"Thank you Miss Lovelace," Melissa said politely, taking the gift.

She had been so excited about seeing him yesterday that she had never noticed the delicately wrapped package. It was rather large but also light. The wrapping paper was a shining gold with a silver ribbon as the finishing touch. Melissa carefully unwrapped the gift and then opened the box. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw what was inside. And all the ladies let out an awed gasp when she took it out.

Antoine had bought Melissa a beautiful floor length ball gown made of pure silk. It was a shade of blue ever so slightly darker then her skin and had beautiful frilled sleeves that came just below the elbows.

"Oh Motherboard its gorgeous!" Ada exclaimed, "It will go so perfect with your skin!"

"She's right dear," Nanny said, "This Antoine fellow made a good choice with that gown."

"There's a card here too," Melissa said as she put the gown on the sofa and took the card out from the bottom.

It was a red card in the shape of a heart with green lace around the rims and Christmas bells imprinted in the upper right corner. She opened the card.

_"My darling Motherboard,_

_It was at a ball that we spoke to each other for the very first time and oh how beautiful you looked that night! When I saw this ball gown standing in the display window at the boutique, it made me think of that glorious night. The color reminded me of your smooth sky-blue complexion, and its overall beauty and elegance reminded me of how regally radiant and lovely you are! I'm so blessed to know you and to have your love. May you have a very merry Christmas! I love you more than you will ever know!_

_Yours forever, Antoine"_

Melissa had read the card aloud and Ada squeeled at the last part.

"Alright," Marbles said coming down the staircase with a wrapped gift, "It took me forever but I found my latest invention lying in the closet and with it, I was able to wrap Ava's gift perfectly symmetrical. Does anyone want to come with me to her house?"

"I'll come dear," Ada said, "I'm always happy to visit the little angel."

"What about you Motherboard?" Marbles asked his sister.

But the only response he got from his sister was a long sigh as she held Antoine's card close to her chest and fell into a seated position on the sofa.

"Give her a moment Marbles," Mararet said, "She's in another world right now."

That she was. Melissa was in her own fantasy dreamland, with Antoine.

* * *

Ceol- Irish for music

Damhsa- Irish for dance

Site Warp- Only seen in episode 102 "Castleblanca"

This took a lot longer than I expected. Starting from now, I'll be trying to speed up the plot a bit so be prepared. If you want an idea of what Antoine's present looks like, watch Disney's "Cinderella." In the ball scene, when the prince is bowing to different women, one woman with black hair and a blue gown walks up to him and curtsies. That is the gown Antoine bought.

And yes Natalie Jenkinson is a cyber spoof of Emily Dickenson

Its August as I'm writing this, but if you're reading this in December, Merry Christmas!

See ya in Cyberspace!


	36. Chapter 36

**~Chapter Thirty-Six~**

Another year went by and the "cyber-mates", as the students had begun to call themselves, were now almost through their senior year of college. Archimedes had come of age and now resided on the same campus as Melissa and Antoine. In regards to the couple, they were easily the smartest in the Senior debate club. As for the younger couple, Ada Lovelace, now seventeen years old, was vice president of the Writer's Club for Academically Gifted. Marbles Benson, also seventeen, was working on more complex inventions and taking a few graduate courses online, anxious to get his doctorates in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering as soon as possible.

It was early May and Marbles sat in his dorm working on one of these inventions. Well, it was really more of a research at the moment. With Archimedes no longer living in the same semi-campus, the teenager followed in his older sister's footsteps and used his scholarship money on a private dorm. He missed his old roommate, but still Marbles didn't mind the change much seeing that Archimedes had been quite a loud snorer.

Over the past year, he was able to invent his symmetrizer and was thrilled with the results. Now Marbles was working on ways to eliminate computer viruses in a cheaper and more efficient way.

"Marbles, are you there?" Ada asked as she knocked on her boyfriend's dorm door.

Without a word, Marbles walked over to his door and let Ada in.

"Well I'm assuming from your complete silence towards me that you've found something?" Ada said in slight annoyance as she walked in.

"Affirmative my lady," Marbles said, half distracted as he went back to his study desk.

Ada peered over Marbles' shoulder to see what he was reading. It was a book on rare Cyber plants and was opened to a particular page.

"Electro roots*?" she asked.

Marbles nodded. "There are few left and they're only available in Ecohaven but if there's ever an emergency, it might be effective. I'm considering going there sometime to test it out."

"I see," Ada said, "But is that really necessary?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I just don't see why you're suddenly so insistent on finding alternate cures to computer viruses. There's already so many out there. Why would we need anymore?"

"There's only one type of cure for computer programmed cyborgs," Marbles pointed out, "And Encryptor chips are very expensive to make and one must be ever so precise in their design. One false move could potentially cause more harm than good."

Ada sighed and rolled her eyes. "And just_ how often_ have we had computer programmed cyborgs?"

"I know," Marbles answered, "Not very often. But I just have this very strange feeling that..."

"That what?"

"That something negative is going to occur in the distant future," he finished, "Something where we will _need_ an alternative."

"Like?" Ada questioned.

"I don't know dear... I don't know..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ye did wonderful up there my friends!" Archimedes exclaimed as he, Antoine, and Melissa walked out of the auditorium.

Antoine and Melissa had just finised a meeting with the debate club and Archimedes, after much pleading, was allowed to watch them practice their debating skills in a practice debate match.

"Thank you Archimedes," Antoine replied,"Though I'm quite surprised that the team thought my arguments superior to the lovely young lady standing next to me."

"Oh stop Antoine," Melissa laughed, playfully slapping his arm.

"Its true though my dear," Antoine said wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey Motherboard," said a voice behind them, "Good job in the debate match today!"

The three turned around. It was Sams, Siamese twin cyborgs from Castleblanca. It had been the left twin that complimented her.

"Oh thank you-"

"Yeah," The right twin interrupted, "Proves how much women can't shut up and be quiet!"

The twins laughed violently at the joke and Melissa glared at them annoyed.

"Come on," Antoine said leading his two friends away, "Lets go."

"Hey maybe you guys should take a trip to Loserville," the left twin shouted as they walked away, "You'll fit right in there!"

The three contined walking, ignoring Sams, unil they got to Archimedes' dorm where they were studying today.

"Ugh!" Melissa grunted as she walked in behind her male comrades, "Why are they so rude to me?!"

"I don't know Lassie," Archimedes sighed as he grabbed a textbook from his desk, "I think they're just bullies for no reason!"

"They really are Motherboard," her boyfriend said, "That... and they're jealous."

"Jealous?!" Melissa and Achimedes exclaimed.

"Sams had a crush on you last year," Antoine admitted, "Both of them."

Melissa's mouth hung open in shock. How did she never notice?

"That's why they threw you in the dumpster isn't it?" Archimedes asked Antoine.

"Yes," the older cyborg explained, "They have been quite bitter about me 'stealing Melissa away.'"

Antoine had hand-quoted the last three words.

"They were such fools back then and are fools now," Melissa stated, a slight anger in her tone, "I never would have gone out with either of them!"

"Glad to hear that," Antoine said as he walked over to his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her small waist.

"Of course you are," Melissa flirted.

"Alright ye two," Arhimedes interrupted, "Are we going to study for this test or not?"

Location: Cyber Congress Meeting:

"But why Derek?" a Congress member asked, "What makes you want to retire so soon?"

"Soon?!" the two hundred sixty five-year-old cyborg said, "I've been in the Cyber-Congress for two hundred thirty years! I think its time I settle down!"

"He has a point," another member said, "He has been here a long time. Besides, there are many aspiring poilitical figures out there. In fact I hear Cyber University has quite a gifted senior debate club this year."

"They always do," said another.

"Its funny you should mention that Bob," Derek said, "I was actually thinking of looking around the different college debate clubs for our next Congress member. The intellegence levels of our youth are increasing rapidly and their young minds will be quick to remember things."

"Well next month they're having the college debate finale," Bob said, "It'll be the two top-scoring debate teams. Surely you can find someone there."

"And you know the rules," a cyborg named Drew reminded everyone, "Derek is the one leaving us and it is he who decides who will take his place."

"Of course," said one.

"I'm just reminding everyone," he said putting his hands up, "I remember when Jim joined the Cyber Congress everyone was insistent that he wasn't the right one for the job."

"Hey!" the said Cyber-Congress-man shouted.

"Well they did," Drew reminded him.

"And you proved us all wrong Jim," Derek said placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

The rest of the cyborgs nodded in agreement.

"Then its settled," said Kenneth, the head of Cyber-Congress, "In about a month's time we will welcome a new Cyber-Congress-man or woman."

A few of the cyborgs laughed quietly at the idea of a woman joining, but they agreed nonetheless.

Kenneth then turned to Derek and smiled sadly. "You have been a valuable contribution to the well-being of Cyberspace, Derek. We'll miss you."

Location: Cyber University:

Antoine walked Melissa back home that night after they were done studying with Archimedes. It was 10:15 P.M when they got to her dorm.

"You know Antoine," Melissa said as she opened the door, "Professor Windows said we'll be getting cybermail tonight on whether or not our team made it to the finals."

"I'm guessing that you wish to view the results together," her boyfriend said smiling.

Melissa nodded and they went inside her dorm where she turned her laptop on.

"There Antoine," she said looking through her inbox, "He has already cybermailed us."

"Well open it," Antoine said eagerly.

She did so and both of their eyes widened as they read the cybermail.

The debate team had made it to the finals.

* * *

Electroroot- episode 120 "Trading Spaces"

Wow! This chapter took forever! I've been really busy with job interviews and it looks like I'll be getting my first job. So these chapters are definitely going to start coming less often. But I'm still going try to get it finished before season 9 premieres since I know if anything contradicts my story I'm going to be very tempted to throw the whole thing out.

Please review and tell me who you'd like to see more of!

See ya in Cyberspace!


	37. Chapter 37

**~Chapter Thirty-Seven~**

One month passed quickly for Cyber University's senior debate team. Professor Windows picked the seven outof the twenty-five team members he thought would best represent the college. Preparations for the annual debate finale had consumed all the seven students' free time and now the day was finally here. If the team won, this would make it the tenth year in a row for their college, matching the Cyberspace record West Solaria University had made twenty cyber-years ago.

The college had their own line of cyber-coach-buses which left the school at 9:00 A.M, bringing the debate team to the finals being held at the Grand Cyber Council building.

"I'm so nervous," Antoine said to Melissa as the bus rode the debate team to their destination.

"Oh darling there's nothing to worry about," Melissa replied, though she was quite nervous as well.

"Motherboard's right," Sams' right head said from behind them, "We can make up for your stupidity."

"Leave us alone Sams," Melissa remarked in annoyance.

"Hey don't get such an attitude with us," right Sams said, "You'll need us someday."

"Yeah," left Sams agreed, "We're gonna inherit Blue Falls Kryoxide."

"That's right. Wouldn't want to miss out on your vital needs, would you Miss Benson?"

"You'd be arrested for third degree murder if you deprived someone of their Kryoxide," Antoine said, protectively wrapping an arm around his girlfriend.

The Siamese twins simply laughed and ended the conversation. The couple rolled their eyes and continued talking about the debate match until the bus arrived at the Grand Cyber Council building.

"Okay everyone!" Professor Windows said excitedly, "Just do your best and, no matter what happens, I'm proud of all of you."

"Let's do this!" one of the students shouted as they all got off the cyber-bus.

"Here goes nothing," Melissa said as she and Antoine walked off the bus together.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Derek put on his sunglasses and took a seat in the very back of the audience. Every member of the Cyber Congress was well-known and he didn't want to bring any attention to himself. He was there for business, not a meet and greet.

He had purposely made it at the very last moment so that nobody would notice him within the crowd of cyborgs coming to see this annual event. Derek knew the building well, for the Cyber Congress held their meetings on level twenty, whilst the actual Cyber Council would meet on level eighteen. After meetings he usually walked around the different floors of the massive building. Every floor was designed for some great importance. There was a pool room for swimming competitions, a gym where professional cyber-athletes trained, and there was the auditorium on level three. The auditorium was usually used when the ruler of Cyberspace had some sort of major issue to discuss, one that would be filmed on news stations across Cyberspace. But once a year, it was used for the final round of the college senior debate matches.

That day was today.

The lights dimmed and the audience's attention was to the stage. The two teams took their seats and the first topic was announced. A member from each team stepped up to separate podiums. Representing North Poddleville University, a square shaped girl named Dot stepped up to debate against Antoine. Their debate with each other lasted about an hour.

_"Impressive,"_ Derek thought to himself, _"But there's still several more students to consider..."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hours passed. There were seven members on each team to make sure there was no chance of a tie and so far Cyber University seemed to have the best members, in Derek's opinion. Now they were down to the seventh round and the last debate members.

_"They're all very intelligent,"_ Derek thought, _"I suppose I'll just have offer all of them the position and hope only one of them can accept."_

Just as he finished that thought though, Melissa gave her stance on the debate topic.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"The winner," the announcer spoke, "Is Cyber University."

The said debate team jumped up from their chairs screaming in excitement as Professor Windows walked up to the stage and accepted the trophy. After making an acceptance speech, he lead his winning team off the stage.

"We did it Motherboard!" Antoine said picking up his girlfriend and swinging her in a circle excitedly.

"We did indeed darling," she laughed as he put her back down.

"Congrats guys!" Brian said as he and Terrence ran up to the two.

Being best friends with Antoine, they of course made sure they were there for this event.

"Thanks Brian," Antoine said high-fiving and hugging his friend.

"You did great up there Antoine," Terrence said as he high-fived and hugged the twenty-year-old.

"Thank you," he said smiling.

"So, cybermates. Shall we celebrate when we all get back to the campus?" Ada said as she, Marbles, and Archimedes walked up behind Melissa.

"Of course," Melissa said turning around to hug her friend.

"Excuse me everybody," said an the voice of an older man.

They turned to see Professor Windows with a look on his face that was even more ecstatic than before.

"Motherboard," he said turning his attention specifically to the young blue-haired woman, "Someone very important would like to speak with you."

"I'll be right back everyone," she said before walking away with their debate coach.

"So who is this special someone?" Melissa asked him curiously.

"You'll know him when you see him," Professor Windows assured her.

The two kept walking until Melissa saw an elderly cyborg in a black suit with dark sunglasses.

"You were right," Melissa whispered to her professor, "He does look familiar."

The cyborg walked up to Melissa and shook her hand.

"Motherboard right?" he asked, regarding her name.

"Yes," she said curtsying as he let go of her hand, "And you are."

"Derek *Rialtais," he said pulling his shades down for a moment so she'd recognize him, "I work-"

"DER-" Melissa shouted excitedly before her professor covered her mouth, lest everyone run in a flock for autographs.

"I presume you know of me then?"

"Oh very much yes," she answered, "I've always been very fond of politics."

"Ah! Excellent!" Derek said. Yes, she'd be perfect for the job.

"So, Motherboard," he continued, "I was watching the debate. And out of all the students up there, you by far had the best arguments and the most knowledge of all."

Melissa smiled and blushed. "Thank you."

"Your welcome," Derek said, "Now, since you are so interested in politics, I assume you've heard that I will be retiring shortly."

"Yes."

Professor Windows' smile grew wider. He knew already what Derek was about to say.

"And the Cyber-Congress will need someone to take my place," he explained, "Because I am the one retiring, I get to choose that lucky cyborg. I thought it best that we have someone young with a sharp memory."

Melissa's eyes widened as she put two and two together.

"Sir, are you saying?..."

"Yes Motherboard," Derek answered smiling hopefully, "I would be honored if you would take my place in the Cyber-Congress after you've finished your semester."

Melissa was speechless.

* * *

Rialtis- Irish for government

Will Motherboard accept this grand offer? Stick around to find out!

Please review, as always :)

See ya in Cyberspace!


End file.
